GEOEGE  BUCHANAN 

A  BIOGRAPHY 


EdiiiburgJi :  Printed  by  Thomas  and  Archibald  Constable, 

FOR 

DAVID  DOUGLAS. 

LONDON    .     .     .    SIMPKIX,  MARSHALL.  HAMILTON,  KENT,  AND  CO.  LTD. 
CAMBRIDGE   .     .     MACMILLAN  AND  BOWES. 
GLASGOW  .     .     .     JAMES  MACLEHOSE  AND  SONS. 


George  Buchanan 

HUMANIST  AND  REFORMER 
A  Biography 

.   By  p.  HUME  BROWN 


EDINBURGH:   DAVID  DOUGLAS 
1890 


\Ail  rights  reserved.] 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
BMESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


PREFACE. 


The  foundation  of  all  the  biographies  of  Buchanan 
is  a  short  Latin  sketch  written  two  years  before  his 
death — in  all  probability  by  himself,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  his  friends.  On  this  sketch  we  have  two 
commentaries,  one  by  Sir  Robert  Sibbald  (1707), 
the  other  by  Ruddiman,  both  of  which  add  a  few 
details  to  its  somewhat  meagre  outline.  The  only 
considerable  biography  of  Buchanan  is  that  of  Dr. 
David  Irving,  the  second  and  last  edition  of  which 
appeared  in  1817.  The  excellent  account  of 
Buchanan  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography, 
by  Mr.  iEneas  Mackay,  is  also  deserving  of  special 
mention.  During  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  Buchanan  was  the  subject  of  interminable 
controversies  ;  but  the  main  sources  of  our  infor- 
mation regarding  him  are  those  which  have  just 
been  named. 

The  idea  of  writing  a  new  biography  of 
Buchanan  was  seriously  entertained  both  by  Sir 


vi 


PREFACE. 


William  Hamilton  and  Mr.  James  Hannay;  but  there 
is  now  a  special  reason  for  the  work  they  contem- 
plated. Of  the  seventy-six  years  of  Buchanan's 
life,  more  than  thirty  were  spent  abroad  ;  and  this 
period  of  his  career  has  hitherto  been  all  but  an 
entire  blank.  Recent  histories,  however,  of  the 
very  institutions  with  which,  during  those  years, 
Buchanan  was  mainly  connected,  bring  vividly 
before  us  the  world  in  which  he  moved,  as  well  as 
the  aims  and  interests  of  men  of  his  type  during 
the  sixteenth  century.  Bead  in  the  light  of  this 
fresh  knowledge,  his  writings  acquire  an  entirely 
new  interest  and  significance  as  the  expression  of 
his  character  and  genius. 

As  this  biography  is  meant  to  make  Buchanan 
known  to  those  who  are  never  likely  to  read  his 
two  Latin  folios,  translations  have  in  almost  every 
case  been  given  of  the  various  passages  quoted.  It 
will  be  seen  that  these  translations  have  been  made 
on  two  distinct  principles.  Where  only  the  exact 
sense  of  the  passage  had  to  be  considered,  a  closely 
literal  rendering  has  been  given  ;  where  the  tone 
and  spirit  were  essential  to  its  appreciation,  the 
precept  of  Cowley  has  been  followed,  and  the 
attempt  made  to  reproduce  something  of  "  the  way 
and  manner''  of  the  original. 


PREFACE. 


vii 


The  accompanying  portrait  of  Buchanan  is  that 
which  appears  in  Boissard's  Icones  (1597).  This 
portrait  is  the  one  approved  by  David  Laing,  who 
commissioned  Mr.  D.  W.  Stevenson  to  follow  it 
in  executing  the  bronze  bust  in  Greyfriars  Church- 
yard. The  Buchanan  bust  in  the  Wallace  Monu- 
ment, at  Stirling,  by  the  same  artist,  is  also  after 
this  portrait. 

By  the  kind  permission  of  the  Senatus  of  the 
University  of  St.  Andrews  a  reproduction  is  given 
(in  the  vignette)  of  a  sketch  of  St.  Leonard  s  Col- 
lege, over  which  Buchanan  presided  for  some  time 
as  Principal.  The  original  sketch,  in  the  possession 
of  the  University,  was  made  by  John  Oliphant  in 
1767,  and  represents  the  building  as  it  then  stood. 
From  its  ruinous  condition  it  had  ceased  to  be  used 
as  a  college  twenty  years  before. 

The  edition  of  Buchanan's  works  to  which 
reference  is  made  throughout  is  that  of  Ruddiman, 
in  two  folios  (Edin.  1715).  In  that  edition  there  is 
a  full  bibhography  of  Buchanan.  Editions  of  his 
works  that  have  appeared  since  1715  are  specified 
as  the  works  themselves  come  up  for  notice. 

I  would  here  take  the  opportunity  of  specially 
thanking  Dr.  Dickson  of  the  Register  House  for 
his  great  kindness  on  the  frequent  occasions  I  have 


viii  PREFACE. 

had  to  consult  him.  In  my  search  for  traces  of 
Buchanan  I  also  owe  much  to  the  courtesy  of 
M.  Tamizey  de  Larroque,  correspondent  of  the 
Institute,  of  M.  Chatelain,  librarian  at  the  Sor- 
bonne,  and  of  Professor  Hagen,  of  the  University 
of  Berne.  To  Professor  Masson  I  am  indebted  for 
several  valuable  suggestions  made  by  him  after  a 
careful  perusal  of  my  manuscript;  and  I  have  to 
thank  Mr.  E..  C.  Christie,  author  of  Etienne  Dolet, 
a  Biography,  for  information  which,  from  his 
special  knowledge  of  the  sixteenth  century,  he 
alone,  perhaps,  could  have  supplied.  My  specific 
obligations  to  certain  other  gentlemen  I  have 
acknowledged  in  the  proper  place. 

P.  HUME  BROWN. 

Apil  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION. 
1506-1520. 


Euchanan's  great  reputation  in  his  own  day,        ...  1 
His  reputation  on  the  Continent,  .....  2 

,,         „        in  England,  .....  2 

„         „        in  Scotland,         .....  3 

Birthplace,  .......  4 

The  Clan  Buchanan,         ......  5 

Buchanan's  ancestry,        ......  6 

His  connection  with  the  House  of  Lennox,  ...  7 

A  Celt  by  his  father's  descent,      .....  8 

His  mother's  ancestry,      .  .  .  .  .  .9 

Buchanan's  early  acquaintance  with  poverty,       .  .  .11 

Probable  places  where  he  received  his  early  education,    .  .  12 

Sent  to  University  of  Paris  by  his  uncle,  .  .  .  .13 

His  opinion  of  his  native  district,  .  .  .  .  .14 


CHAPTER  IL 

REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM  IN  PARIS — 
BUCHANAN'S  FIRST  STUDIES  THERE. 

1520-1522. 

The  University  of  Paris  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  15 


Its  opposition  to  the  Renaissance,  .  .  .  .16 

The  work  of  Lefevre  d'Etaples,     .  .  .  .  .18 

Luther's  opinions  in  the  University,        ,  .  .  .20 

The  Sorbonne,      .......  21 

Francis  i.'s  attitude  towards  the  new  studies,       .  .  .22 

Religious  reform  in  France,         .....  23 

Scots  students  at  University  of  Paris,      .  .  .  .24 


X 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Character  of  University  students,  .  .  .  .28 

Curriculum  of  study  in  Paris,       .  .  .  .  .29 

The  various  modes  of  living  at  the  University,     .  .  .30 

Buchanan's  early  studies,  ......  31 

Result  of  his  training  in  Latin  verse,  .  .  .32 

Returns  to  Scotland,        ......  33 

CHAPTER  III. 

MILITARY  EXPEDITION — STUDIES  AT  ST.  ANDREWS. 
1522-1526. 

Buchanan  serves  in  an  expedition  to  the  Border,  ,  34 

Mutual  relations  of  the  Medieval  Universities,  .  .38 

John  Major,  his  life  and  writings,           .          .  .  .38 

Buchanan  enters  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  .  .  .41 

The  Paedagogium  of  St.  Andrews,                     .  .  .41 

The  Humanists  and  Major,                   .          .  .  .43 

Scholasticism,       .......  44 

Buchanan  graduates  as  Bachelor  of  Arts,            .  .  .46 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PARIS — THE  SCOTS  COLI.EGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE. 
1526-1535. 


Buchanan  returns  to  Paris,  .  .  .  .47 

The  Scots  College,  ......  48 

Buchanan's  obligation  to  Major,    .  .  .  .  .48 

Life  in  the  Paris  Colleges,  .....  49 

Buchanan  becomes  Regent  in  Ste.  Barbe,  .  .  .50 

Account  of  Ste.  Barbe,      ......  50 

Buchanan's  account  of  his  duties  as  Regent,  .  .56 
Habits  of  the  students  in  Paris,    .....  58 

CHAPTER  V. 

REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE  AND  PROCURATOR  OF  THE 
GERMAN  NATION. 

Liberal  opinions  in  Ste.  Barbe,  .  .60 

Calvin  and  Buchanan,      .  .  .  .  .  .61 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

Ignatius  Loyola  at  Ste.  Barb e,      .  .  .  .  .62 

Opposition  to  the  new  studies  in  Paris,    .  .  .  .63 

Latin  Grammars,    .......  64 

Buchanan  translates  Linacre's  Latin  Grammar,     .  .  .65 

State  of  opinion  in  the  University  of  Paris,         .  .  .67 

Brigonnet,  Bishop  of  Meaux,        .  .  .  .  .67 

Louis  de  Berquin,  .......  68 

Guillaume  Bud^,    .......  68 

Noel  Beda, ........  69 

Buchanan's  Epigram  on  Major,     .  .  .  .  .70 

Florence  Wilson,    .......  71 

Buchanan's  Keligious  Opinions,     .  .  .  .  .74 

His  Epigram  on  a  Member  of  the  Sorbonne,        .  .  .75 

Made  Procurator  of  the  German  Nation,  .  .  .  '.76 

Origin  of  the  University  "  Nations,"        .  .  .  .76 

Duties  of  Procurator,        ......  77 

Buchanan's  attack  on  Eobert  Dugast,       .  .  .  .78 

Buchanan  made  one  of  the  Electors  of  the  Eector,  .  .  79 

His  natural  unfitness  for  the  post  of  Eegent,        .  .  .80 

Wandering  habits  of  the  Renaissance  scholars,     ;  .  .81 

Buchanan  becomes  Tutor  to  the  Earl  of  Cassillis,  .  .  .81 

Reference  to  Cassillis  in  Buchanan's  History,       .  .  .83 


CHAPTER  VL 

SCOTLAND — QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS. 
1535-1539. 

Buchanan's  return  to  Scotland,  .... 

Sta.te  of  the  Church  in  Scotland,  .... 

Somnium,  ....... 

Tutor  to  Lord  James  Stewart,  .... 

Falinodia,  ...... 

Franciscanus,  ...... 

The  legitimacy  of  its  Satire,  .... 

Its  coarseness  relative,  ..... 

Buchanan's  flight  to  England,  .... 

His  Poems  to  Cromwell  and  Henry  viii.,  . 

His  return  to  France,        .  .  .  .  . 


86 
89 
91 
93 
95 
96 
99 
100 
101 
102 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BORDEAUX. 
1539-1542. 

PAGE 

Buchanan's  attachment  to  France,  ....  103 

Leaves  Paris  on  account  of  Cardinal  Beaton,       .  .  .  104 

Is  appointed  Regent  in  the  College  de  Guyenne,  Bordeaux,  .  105 

Educational  problems  of  the  sixteenth  century,    .  .  .106 

Internal  arrangements  of  the  College  de  Guyenne,  .  .  108 

Montaigne  a  pupil  of  Buchanan,    .          .          .  .  .111 

Montaigne's  references  to  his  teacher,       .          .  .  .112 

Julius  Caesar  Scaliger,      .          .          .          .  .  .113 

Buchanan's  visits  to  him,  .          .          .          .  .  .114 

Joseph  Scaliger,     .          .          .          .          .  .  .115 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

BORDEAUX — OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 

Buchanan's  position  in  the  College  de  Guyenne,  .  .  .116 

His  Poem  to  the  Emperor  Charles  v.,       .          .  .  .117 

Satire  on  the  Brothers  of  St.  Anthony,     .          .  .  .118 

Apologia  pro  Lena,           .          .          .          .  .  .119 

Latin  Plays  at  the  College  de  Guyenne,    .          .  .  .120 

Buchanan's  Dramas,         .          .          .          .  .  .121 

His  Baptistes,        .          .          .          .          .  .  .122 

Religious  reform  in  Bordeaux,      .          .          .  .  .123 

Political  ideas  in  Baptistes,          .          .          .  .  .124 

Buchanan  leaves  Bordeaux,          .          .          .  .  .125 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PARIS— PORTUGAL. 
1542-1552. 

Buchanan  again  in  Paris,  .          ,          .          .  .  .126 

Regent  in  the  College  du  Cardinal  Lemoine,        .  .  .127 

Poem  addressed  to  his  friends  in  Bordeaux,         .  .  .127 

Buchanan  accompanies  Gouvea  to  Portugal,         .  .  .130 

Account  of  the  College  at  Coimbra,         .          .  .  .131 

Persecution  of  Buchanan,  .          .          .          .  .  .133 


CONTENTS. 


xiii 


CHAPTEE  X. 

EROTIC  VERSES  AND  PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


Artificial  character  of  the  Humanist  Literature,  .  .          .  135 

The  erotic  verse  of  Beza,   .          .  .          .          .  .137 

Buchanan's  erotic  verse,    .          .  .          .          .  .139 

The  fashion  of  paraphrasing  the  Psalms,  ....  141 

Marcantonio  Flaminio,     .          .  .          .          .          .  142 

Henri  Estienne,     .          .          .  .          .          .  .143 

Buchanan's  version  of  the  Psalms,  ....  145 


CHAPTER  XL 

FRANCE — ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC. 


1552-1561. 

Buchanan  returns  to  France,        .  .  .  .  .150 

State  of  France  under  Henry  11.,.  .  ,  .  .151 

Buchanan's  Address  to  France,     .....  152 

His  intimacy  with  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais,  .  .  .  153 

The  Marechal  de  Brissac,  ......  155 

His  son  the  pupil  of  Buchanan,     .  .  .  .  .158 

De  Brissac's  esteem  for  Buchanan,  .  .  .  .159 

Buchanan's  growing  interest  in  religion,    .  .         .  .160 


CHAPTER  XIL 

THE  DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 
Reasons  for  Buchanan's  choosing  the  Sphere  as  the  subject  of  a 


a  great  poem,  ......  162 

Joannes  de  Sacrobosco,     .  .  .  .  .  .164 

The  teaching  of  Copernicus,         .  .  .  .  .165 

Account  of  Buchanan's  De  Sj^haera,        .  .  .  .      1 66 

Poem  on  the  marriage  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  the  Dauphin,  171 
His  Poem  on  the  death  of  Mary's  husband,         .  .  .175 

Poem  on  the  First  of  May,  .  .  .  .  .177 


xiv 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

SCOTLAND — KELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT. 
1561-1567. 

PAGE 


Buchanan's  employments  on  his  return  to  Scotland,        .  .  180 

His  relation  to  Mary,       ......  181 

His  personal  appearance,  .  .  .  .  .  .181 

Buchanan  and  the  Court,  .  .  .  .  .  .183 

Epigram  to  Mary,  .  .  .  .  .  .184 

Poet-Laureate  of  the  Court,         .  .  .  .  .185 

His  sources  of  income,      .  .  .  .  .  .186 

"  Pensionary  "  of  Crossraguel,      .....  187 

Other  epigrams  to  Mary,  .  .  .  .  .  .189 

Identifies  himself  with  the  Keformers,     .  .  .  .190 

Relations  with  the  Regent  Moray,  .  .  .  .191 

Buchanan  and  Darnley,     .  .  .  .  .  .193 

Buchanan  and  Knox,        ......  194 

Buchanan  and  Mary,        .  .  .  .  .  .195 

Poem  on  the  birth  of  James  vi.,  .  ....  196 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  DETECTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS. 


Buchanan's  change  of  feeling  towards  Mary,        .  .  .  200 

Charges  brought  against  him  by  her  advocates,    .  .  .  201 

His  exact  obligation  to  her,         .....  202 

Meaning  of  his  panegyrics  of  Mary,         ....  203 

Reasons  for  his  change  of  attitude  towards  Mary,  .  .  204 

Accompanies  Moray  to  England,  .....  208 

The  Detectio  distinct  from  the  Book  of  Articles,    .  .  .  209 

Account  of  the  Detectio,    .  .  .  .  .  .211 

Buchanan  in  London,       ......  216 

His  vernacular  writings,   ......  217 

The  Admonitioun,  .  .  .  .  .  .218 

The  Chamaeleon,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .219 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


CHAPTER  XV. 
SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 

PAGE 

Buchanan  consulted  in  all  educational  schemes,  .          .          .  226 

Foundation  of  St.  Leonard's  College,  St.  Andrews,         .          .  227 

Effect  of  the  Eeformation  on  the  Universities,     .          .          .  229 

State  of  learning  in  the  Scottish  Universities,      .          .          .  230 

Educational  schemes  of  the  Keformers,     ....  232 

Buchanan's  plan  of  University  Eeform,    ....  237 

Plan  attributed  to  Andrew  Melville,       .  .  .  .239 

Buchanan  as  Principal  of  St.  Leonard's,  ....  241 

His  interest  in  Glasgow  College,  .....  242 

His  sympathy  with  the  young,     .....  244 

Jerome  Groslot,     .......  245 

Alexander  Cockburn,       .          .          .          .          .          .  246 

The  Admirable  Crichton,  ......  247 

CHAPTER  XVL 

TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES — PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Death  of  the  Regent  Moray,        .....  249 

Buchanan  appointed  tutor  to  James,       ....  250 

Plan  of  study,       .......  252 

His  bearing  towards  James,         .....  256 

James  in  the  schoolroom,  .          .          .          .          ...  257 

Anecdotes,           .......  258 

The  result  of  Buchanan's  influence  on  James,  .  .  .  260 
Buchanan's  political  importance  as  James's  tutor,  .  .261 
His  public  life,      .          .          .          .          .          .  .263 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

POLITICAL  OPINIONS— THE  DE  JURE  REGNI  APUD  SCOWS. 

Buchanan's  political  writings  suppressed  by  Government,          .  269 

Sketch  of  political  opinion  in  Europe — 

a.  In  the  Middle  Ages,        .....  272 

6.  In  the  Sixteenth  Century,           .          .          .          .  276 


xvi 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Calvin's  Institutes,  ......  278 

Political  opinion  in  Scotland — Major — Boece,     .  .  .  280 

Knox  and  Mary,   .......  282 

i:he  De  Jure  Begni,         ......  283 

CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 

Buchanan's  History  of  Scotland  his  most  ambitious  work,  .  293 

His  motives  in  writing  it,  .....  294 

The  spirit  in  which  it  was  written,  ....  297 

Not  a  philosophical  historian,      .....  298 

His  description  of  the  Western  Islanders,  .  .  .  300 

His  treatment  of  legendary  history  of  Scotland,    .  .  .  302 

His  account  of  the  different  peoples  of  Scotland,  .  .  .  303 

Accepts  the  legendary  kings  of  Scotland, ....  305 

The  Culdees,        .......  307 

The  suzerainty  of  England  over  Scotland,  .  .  .  311 

His  character  of  Wallace,  .  .  .  .  .  .312 

His  character  of  Bruce,     ......  312 

English  writers  on  Scottish  history,         ....  314 

Speech  of  Bishop  Kennedy,         .  .  .  .  .316 

Buchanan's  history  from  the  reign  of  James  iv.,   .  .  .  317 

Sir  David  Lyndsay,  .  .  .  .  .  .318 

Battle  of  Flodden, .  .  .  .  .  .  .319 

Value  of  Buchanan's  History  for  first  half  of  sixteenth  century,    .  320 
Cardinal  Beaton,   .  .  .  .  .  .  .321 

Place  of  Knox  in  Buchanan's  History,     ....  323 

Speech  of  Kegent  Morton,  .....  324 

The  great  reputation  of  Buchanan's  work,  .  .  .  325 

Its  essential  value,  .  .  .  .  .  .327 

CHAPTEE  XIX. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

Character  of  Buchanan's  correspondence,  ....  329 

Letter  to  Pierre  Daniel,    ......  330 

Letter  to  Daniel  Eogers,   ......  332 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

PAGE 

Letter  to  Henry  Scrimgeour,        .....  334 

Letter  of  Beza  to  Buchanan,         .....  335 

French  letter  by  Buchanan,         .....  337 

Letter  of  Buchanan  to  Tycho  Brahe,        ....  338 

Letter  of  Buchanan  to  a  young  Scotsman, ....  339 

Beza  to  Buchanan,           ......  341 

Hubert  Languet  to  Buchanan,      ....  343 

Buchanan's  correspondence  with  Elie  Vinet,       .          .          .  345 


CHAPTER  XX. 

LAST  DAYS— CONCLUSION. 


Visit  of  Andrew  and  James  Melville  to  Buchanan,         .          .  349 
Anecdotes  regarding  his  last  days,          .          .          .  .351 

His  death  and  burial,        ......  353 

Concluding  remarks,        ......  354 

Appendix  A. — 

(1)  Letter  of  Sir  Thomas  Eandolph  to  Sir  Peter  Young,      .  363 

(2)  Georgii  Buchanani  Vita  ab  ipso  scripta,  .          .  363 

Appendix  B. — Buchanan's  account  of  his  Procuratorship  in  the 

University  of  Paris,    ......  370 

Appendix  C. — Letter  of  Buchanan  to  Sir  Thomas  Eandolph,      .  377 

Appendix  D. — Buchanan's  Testament  Dative,     .          .          .  379 


Index,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  381 


b 


GEORGE  BUCHANAN 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


CHAPTEE  1. 

PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION. 
1506-1520. 

For  continental  scholars  and  men  of  letters  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  most 
distinguished  person  then  living  in  the  British 
Islands  was  the  Scottish  humanist  and  reformer, 
George  Buchanan.  The  testimonies  of  Buchanan's 
contemporaries  place  this  fact  beyond  question. 
Buchanan  owed  this  eminence  to  his  mastery  of  Latin, 
then  the  international  language  of  Europe  ;  in  the 
composition  of  Latin  prose  and  verse,  Buchanan  had, 
indeed,  hardly  a  second  in  Britain,  so  that  he  easily 
stands  as  the  representative  British  humanist  of  his 
own  day.  The  terms  in  which  the  humanists  of  the 
sixteenth  century  speak  of  each  other  must  always 
be  taken  with  large  modification  ;  of  their  friends 
their  laudations  are  apt  to  be  as  meaningless  as 
their  denunciations  of  their  enemies.  Yet,  when 
all  allowance  has  been  made  for  uncritical  superla- 
tives, the  testimonies  of  Buchanan's  most  eminent 

A 


2  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


contemporaries  leave  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  his  im- 
mense reputation.  What  the  great  printer,  Henri 
Estienne,  said  of  him,  and  Camden  approvingly 
repeats,  was  generally  received  as  true  —  that 
Buchanan  "  was  easily  the  first  poet  of  his  age 
So  long  as  Latin  continued  to  be  the  language  of 
literature,  Buchanan's  fame  on  the  Continent  re- 
mained unimpaired ;  for  Grotius  in  the  next 
century  he  was  Scotiae  illud  numen  ;  and  Milton's 
antagonist  Saumaise  spoke  of  him  as  "  the  greatest 
man  of  his  age".  Even  into  the  eighteenth  century, 
as  we  shall  see,  Buchanan  still  retained  on  the  Con- 
tinent a  certain  vitality  as  a  man  of  letters.  In 
the  present  century  he  has  been  but  the  shadow  of 
a  name  ;  yet  it  is  curious  proof  of  his  once  brilliant 
reputation,  that,  as  by  a  kind  of  echo,  he  is  even 
now  rarely  mentioned  on  the  Continent  except  as 
''the  celebrated  Buchanan." 

In  England,  Buchanan  remained  a  living  force  in 
literature  for  much  the  same  period  as  on  the 
Continent.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  Boger  Ascham 
and  Sir  Philip  Sidney  acknowledge  his  supremacy 
in  the  world  of  letters  ;  and  in  the  seventeenth, 
Milton  and  Cowley  speak  of  him  with  the  highest 
respect.  For  Dryden,  Buchanan  as  a  writer  of 
history  was  "  comparable  to  any  of  the  moderns,  and 
excelled  by  few  of  the  ancients."  Buchanan  was 
still  well  known  in  England  to  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Warton,  for  example,  speaks 
of  him  as  "a  popular  modern  classic,"  and  Boswell 
has  recorded  a  characteristic  tribute  which  Dr. 
Johnson  paid  to  him.  "Ah  !  Dr.  Johnson,"  said  a 
certain  Scotsman,  "  what  would  ^^ou  have  said  had 
Buchanan  been  an  Englishman  ? "    "  Why,  sir,  I 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION.  3 


should  not  have  said,  had  he  been  an  Englishman, 
what  I  will  say  of  him  as  a  Scotchman,  that  he  was 
the  only  man  of  genius  whom  his  country  ever  pro- 
duced." And  on  another  occasion  Johnson  declared 
that  "  Buchanan  not  only  had  great  knowledge  of 
the  Latin,  but  was  a  great  poetical  genius  ".  It  is 
significant,  however,  that  Person  confessed  that  he 
had  not  even  heard  of  such  a  person  as  Buchanan. 

By  Scotsmen,  Buchanan  has  always  been  regarded 
as  one  of  the  great  characters  in  their  national 
history.  "There  are  not,  perhaps,"  says  Mr.  Hill 
Burton,  above  three  or  four  names  holding  so 
proud  a  place  in  the  homage  of  his  countrymen  as 
Buchanan's."  His  countrymen  are  proud  of  him  as 
their  most  distinguished  scholar,  and  as  one  of  the 
very  limited  number  of  British  writers  who,  with 
Hume,  Adam  Smith,  and  Scott,  have  achieved  a 
European  reputation.  His  association  with  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  has  assured  him  an  undying  memory 
so  long  as  her  tragic  fortunes  remain  a  theme  of 
interest.  In  his  capacity  as  tutor  to  James  vi.  he 
has  a  place  in  the  traditions  of  his  country  which 
he  could  not  have  gained  by  all  his  skill  in  the 
imitation  of  classical  Latin.  In  spite  of  his  foreign 
training  and  classical  affinities,  his  countrymen  have 
always  recognised  in  him  the  typical  Scotsman,  as 
strongly  and  distinctively  marked  as  Knox  or 
Carlyle  himself  It  was  Buchanan,  indeed,  who  sup- 
plied that  famous  phrase — praeferviditm  ingenium  I 
Scotorum — which  has  been  acce].)ted  as  the  happiest 
characterisation  of  the  national  temper  of  his  country- 
men.^ But  the  most  signal  tribute  to  the  great  per- 

^  It  should  be  said  that  Buchanan  did  not  actually  use  this  phrase. 
It  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  following  sentence  in  his 


4 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


sonality  of  Buchanan  is  the  amazing  transformation 
which,  in  common  with  Virgil  and  Rabelais,  he  has 
undergone  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  Buchanan, 
the  fastidious  scholar  of  the  Renaissance,  the  trans- 
lator of  the  Psalms  of  David,  the  author  of  a  serious 
History  which  fills  a  thick  folio  volume,  has  been 
transformed  into  the  court  fool  of  his  royal  pupil, 
and  his  name  associated  with  an  obscene  jest-book, 
of  whose  indecencies  he  is  as  innocent  as  Virgil  of 
the  black  arts  that  popular  imagination  ascribed  to 
him.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  enduring  place  he  holds 
in  the  memory  of  his  countrymen  it  cannot  be  said 
that  he  is  a  living  force  in  their  minds.  By  the  very 
conditions  which  made  his  European  reputation  he 
has  forfeited  his  portion  in  the  present  intellectual 
life  of  his  country.  It  is  not  only  that  the  two  folio 
volumes  which  make  up  his  works  are  written  in  a 
dead  language.  The  themes  on  which  he  expended 
his  best  powers  are  largely  inspired  by  circum- 
stances which,  from  their  very  nature,  could  have 
no  abiding  interest  for  the  mass  of  his  countrymen. 
The  object  of  the  present  biography  is  to  show  what 
it  was  in  Buchanan  that  won  him  the  admiration  of 
his  contemporaries,  and  what  share  may  be  fairly 
assigned  to  him  in  the  general  development  of  the 
national  life  of  Scotland. 

George  Buchanan  was  born  on  the  lands  of 
Moss,  or  Mid-Leowen,  near  Killearn,  in  Stirlingshire, 
about  the  beginning  of  February  1506.  The  exact 
spot  of  his  birth  was  a  few  yards  from  the  river 
Blane,  and  about  two  miles  to  the  south-east  of 

History :  "  ne  Scotoruin  praefei  vida  ingenia  in  errorem  inemendabilem 
universam  rem  praecipitarent ". — Hist.  p.  321  (d).  As  usually  quoted, 
praefervidum  almost  invariably  appears  as  perfervidum. 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION. 


5 


the  village.  Part  of  the  house  in  which  he  was  born, 
consisting  of  a  thatched  roof  resting  on  oaken 
spars,  existed  till  as  late  as  1812,  when  a  modern 
residence  was  built  almost  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
one.  From  the  oaken  spars  of  the  original  cottage 
a  table  and  chair  were  made,  which  are  now  in 
possession  of  the  present  owners  of  the  modern 
house.  ^  These  are  the  only  relics  of  Buchanan  now 
to  be  found  in  his  native  district.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion in  the  neighbourhood  that  Buchanan  was  born, 
not  in  the  house  above  mentioned,  but  in  a  shieling 
among  the  hills  behind  it.  As  his  birth  took  place 
in  February,  however,  the  season  of  the  year  renders 
this  improbable.^ 

In  the  cursory  account  he  has  given  of  his  own 
life,  Buchanan,  with  the  proverbial  weakness  of 
Scotsmen,  does  not  forget  to  mention  that  the 
family  to  which  he  belonged,  though  in  narrow 
circumstances,  was  yet  of  honourable  descent.  Like 
other  clans,  the  Buchanans  had  their  legendary 
ancestor.  In  the  case  of  the  clan  Buchanan,  this 
ancestor  was  Anselan  Buey  (Fair)  Okyan,  son  of 
Okyan,  provincial  king  of  the  southern  part  of 
Ulster.  By  reason  of  the  share  he  had  taken  in  a 
general  massacre  of  the  Danes,  Anselan  was  forced 
to  flee  to  Scotland  in  1016,  during  the  reign  of 

^  New  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland. 

2  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  Buchanan's  birthplace  was 
the  house  immediately  on  the  banks  of  the  Blane.  "  During  the  life- 
time of  the  late  proprietor,  who  died  in  1808,  in  the  ninety-fourth  year 
of  his  age,"  says  Irving,  "  the  farm-house  in  which  Buchanan  was  born 
was  twice  rebuilt :  but  on  each  occasion  its  original  dimensions  and 
characteristics  were  studiously  preserved  ;  and  an  oak  beam,  together 
with  an  inner  wall,  has  even  retained  its  ancient  position.  The  present 
building,  which  may  be  considered  as  a  correct  model  of  Buchanan's 
paternal  residence,  is  a  lowly  cottage  thatched  with  straw ;  but  this 
cottage  is  still  visited  with  a  kind  of  religious  veneration." — Memoirs  of 
Buchanan,  p.  2  (Edin.  1817). 


6 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Malcolm  ii.,  landing  on  the  north  coast  of  Argyll, 
near  the  Lennox.  For  his  distinguished  services 
against  the  Danes  in  their  attacks  on  Scotland, 
Malcolm  rewarded  him  with  the  grant  of  several 
lands,  those  of  Pitwhonidy  and  Strathyre  being 
specially  mentioned.  By  marriage  with  one  of  the 
Dennistouns,  a  noted  family  of  the  Lennox,  An- 
selan  also  gained  a  small  part  of  the  estate  of 
Buchanan,  though  the  greater  part  of  that  estate 
was  granted  to  him  by  Malcolm.^ 

The  first  historic  Buchanan  was  Anselan,  cham- 
berlain to  Malduin,  Earl  of  Lennox,  the  seventh  in 
descent  from  Anselan  Buey.  This  Anselan  ob- 
tained from  the  Earl  of  Lennox  a  charter  of  Clare - 
inch  (Clarines),  an  island  in  Lochlomond,  in  1225.'^ 
The  name  of  this  island  w^as  adopted  by  the  family 
as  their  slogan  or  war-cry.  The  son  of  this  An- 
selan, Gilbert,  was  the  first  to  assume  the  terri- 
torial name  of  Buchanan.^  Two  of  his  descendants, 
previous  to  the  most  illustrious  of  all  the  Buchan- 
ans, have  a  claim  to  be  specially  mentioned.  Sir 
Alexander  Buchanan,  who  accompanied  the  Earl  of 
Buchan  to  France  during  the  regency  of  Albany, 
has  the  credit,  on  fairly  good  grounds,  of  having 
slain  the  Duke  of  Clarence  at  Bauge  with  his  own 
hands,  and  of  having  carried  off  the  Duke's  coronet.* 
Another  descendant,  Maurice  Buchanan,  who  acted 
as  treasurer  to  the  Princess  Margaret,  wife  of  the 
Dauphin  (afterwards  Louis  xi.),  has  on  the  highest 
authority  been  accredited  with  the  authorship  of 

1  Buchanan  of  Auchmar,  Msay  upon  the  Family  and  Surname  of 
Buchanan.  ^  Ibid.  ^  Ibid. 

*  This  story  is  told  in  the  Book  of  Pluscarden.  For  a  commentary 
on  the  story,  see  Introduction  to  vol.  x.  of  the  Historians  of  Scotland, 
by  R  J.  H.  Skene. 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION. 


7 


the  Book  of  Pluscarden/  It  will  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  Buchanan  could  justly  claim  for  himself  that, 
on  his  father's  side,  he  came  of  an  honourable 
stock. 

It  is,  however,  to  the  Buchanans  of  Drumikill, 
a  younger  branch  of  the  family,  that  Buchanan 
belongs.  As  Buchanan's  family  and  clan  connec- 
tions had  a  very  direct  bearing  on  his  life  and 
opinions,  it  is  necessary  that  these  should  be  clearly 
understood.  The  first  of  the  family  of  Drumikill 
was  Thomas  Buchanan,  the  grandson  of  Sir  Walter 
Buchanan  and  Isobel,  daughter  of  Murdach,  Duke 
of  Albany,  and  Isobel,  heiress  of  Lennox.^  To 
Thomas,  first  of  Drumikill,  succeeded  Kobert,  the 
grandfather  of  George  Buchanan.  Thomas  Buchan- 
an, the  father  of  George,  was  son  and  apparent 
heir  to  this  Bobert.^  On  his  father's  side,  there- 
fore, we  see  Buchanan's  connection  with  the  family 
and  clan  of  Lennox  —  a  fact  that  claims  to  be 
specially  noted  in  speaking  of  a  time  when,  as  Mr. 
Froude  has  said,  ''social  duty  in  Scotland  was 
overridden  by  the  more  sacred  obligation  of  affinity 
or  private  bond".  It  cannot,  of  course,  be  main- 
tained that  his  connection  with  the  house  of  Lennox 
determined  Buchanan's  choice  of  the  side  he  came 
to  take  in  the  great  political  and  religious  questions 

1  Skene,  Proceedings  of  Society  of  Antiquaries,  vol.  ix.  p.  447. 

2  Buchanan  of  Auchmar,  Essay. 

^  In  biographies  of  Buchanan  it  is  usually  stated  that  his  father  was 
the  second  son  of  Thomas  Buchanan  of  Drumikill.  But  the  statement 
in  the  text  is  proved  by  a  deed,  dated  5th  August  1531,  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  H.  D.  Erskine  of  Cardross.  I  have  to  thank  Mr. 
Guthrie  Smith  of  Mugdock  Castle  for  drawing  my  attention  to  this 
deed.  In  Buchanan  of  Auchmar's  day  it  would  appear  that  certain 
persons  inclined  to  the  statement  made  in  the  text.  Auchmar  himself, 
however,  did  not  accept  it,  and  he  has  been  followed  by  subsequent 
biographers  of  Buchanan. 


8 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  his  time,  and  that  his  detestation  of  the  Hamil- 
tons  was  prompted  by  mere  clan  rivahies.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  his  humanistic  training  and  long  sojourn 
abroad,  Buchanan  never  forgot  that  he  was  a 
Scotsman  in  the  first  place,  and  in  the  second  a 
Lennox-man,  the  hereditary  foe  of  the  Hamiltons. 
How  strong  such  ties  still  remained  throughout  a 
century  when  new  principles  thrown  into  society 
affected  the  deepest  springs  of  men's  actions  is 
curiously  shown  in  the  case  of  one  who  even  in 
greater  degree  than  Buchanan  might  be  supposed 
to  have  been  superior  to  feelings  of  this  nature  : 
Knox  himself,  all  absorbed  as  he  was  in  his  great 
mission,  declared  to  Bothwell  that  he  could  not 
forget  that  three  of  his  ancestors  had  served  the 
Bothwell  family. 

It  admits  of  conclusive  proof  that  on  his  father  s 
side  Buchanan  was  of  Celtic  descent.  Anselan, 
the  name  of  the  legendary  founder  of  the  Bu- 
chanans, is  simply  the  Gaehc  Auslan  ;  and  Mac- 
auslan  was  actually  the  name  of  the  lairds  of 
Buchanan.^  The  Macauslans  and  the  Macmillans 
were  branches  of  the  same  clan,  and  of  the  Macmil- 
lans an  authentic  pedigree  exists  which  places  their 
Celtic  descent  beyond  question.^  Not  only  was 
Buchanan,  on  his  father's  side,  a  Celt  by  birth  ;  in 
all  probability  Gaelic  was  his  mother  tongue. 
Till  his  fourteenth  year  he  must  have  lived  mainly 
at  Killearn  and  Cardross,  Menteith,  and  in  both  of 
these  districts  the  prevailing  language  must  have 

1  Proceedings  of  Society  of  Antiquaries^  vol.  ix.  part  ii.  p.  449. 

-  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  p.  489.  The  OJcyan,  which  Buchanan 
of  Auchmar  gives  as  the  patronymic  of  Anselan  Buey,  appears  in  the 
Macmillan  pedigree  as  Cainn.  I  am  indebted  for  guidance  on  these 
points  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Skene. 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION.  9 

been  Gaelic/'  The  introductory  chapters  of  his 
History  of  Scotland  also  prove  that  he  was  perfectly 
familiar  with  that  language.^  That  he  had  the 
feelings  and  prepossessions  of  a  Celt,  his  writings, 
prose  and  poetry,  abundantly  prove.  When  he 
celebrates,  as  he  frequently  does,  the  valour  and 
glories  of  the  Scots,  it  is  the  Celts  of  whom  he  is 
thinking  ;  and  when  he  speaks  in  his  History  of  the 
English  immigrations  in  the  reigns  of  Malcolm  and 
David,  it  is  with  no  feeling  of  the  benefits  they 
actually  brought  to  the  country. 

On  his  mother's  side,  Buchanan  came  of  an 
equally  honourable  stock.  Her  name  was  Agnes 
Heriot,  of  the  Heriots  of  Trabroun,  a  family  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  the  county  of  Haddington. 
The  lands  of  Trabroun,  near  Lauder  in  Berwick- 
shire, consisting  of  about  400  acres,  were  originally 
granted  to  John  Heriot  for  military  service  by 
Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas — the  charter  being  con- 
firmed by  James  i.  of  Scotland  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  his  reign.  ^  In  this  charter  the  Earl  desig- 
nates John  Heriot  as  "  squire  and  heir  to  his  con- 
federate, James  Heriot  of  Niddry-Marshall  ".^  It 
is  perhaps  worth  noting  that  George  Heriot,  the 
founder  of  the  magnificent  hospital  in  Edinburgh, 

^  The  following  story  told  of  Buchanan  has  all  the  marks  of  truth, 
as  he  certainly  knew  Gaelic,  and  the  humour  of  the  story  is  thoroughly 
characteristic.  A  woman  whom  he  met  in  France  gave  out  that  she  was 
devil-ridden,  and  could  speak  all  languages.  Buchanan  tried  her  with 
Gaelic  ;  but,  finding  her  ignorant  of  that  language,  protested  that  the 
devil  was  at  least  ignorant  of  Gaelic. — Man,  Censure  of  Buddiman, 
p.  329. 

2  I  am  assured  of  this  by  Mr.  Skene. 

^  Steven,  History  of  George  Heriofs  Hospital,  where  a  pedigree  of 
the  Heriots  of  Trabroun  is  given  in  the  Appendix  to  the  second  edition 
(Edin.  1859). 

*  "  Dilecto  armigero  suo  Johanni  de  Heriot,  filio  ac  heredi  dilecti  con- 
federati  sui  Jacobi  de  Heriot  de  Nidri-Marshall." 


10 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


was  a  scion  of  the  same  family  of  the  Heriots  of 
Trabroun/  As  George  Heriot  was  nineteen  years 
of  age  when  Buchanan  died,  he  may  have  had 
direct  personal  intercourse  with  his  famous  relative. 
The  Heriots  of  Trabroun,  it  should  also  be  added, 
were  of  Teutonic  descent,  so  that  in  Buchanan  we 
have  that  fortunate  blending  of  races  which  Lord 
Brougham  found  so  happily  reahsed  in  himself 

Besides  George,  Thomas  Buchanan  and  Agnes 
Heriot  had  other  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all 
of  whom  reached  maturity.  Of  the  other  members 
of  the  family,  Patrick  is  the  only  one  with  whom  we 
shall  casually  meet  in  Buchanan's  biography.  Like 
George,  Patrick  also  chose  learning  as  his  pursuit, 
and  gained  some  distinction  as  a  scholar.  He  died 
before  his  more  famous  brother,  who  has  commemo- 
rated him  in  his  autobiography  and  in  the  following 
fine  epigram  : — 

Si  mihi  private  fas  indulgere  dolori, 

Ereptum,  frater,  te  mihi  jure  fleam  : 
Nostra  bonis  raros  cui  protulit  artibus  aetas, 

Et  nivea  morum  simplicitate  pares. 
At  si  gratandum  laetis  est  rebus  amici, 

Gratulor  immensis  quod  potiare  bonis. 
Omnia  quippe  piae  vitae  et  sinceriter  actae, 

Praemia  securus  non  peritura  tenes.^ 

The  family  was  always  poor,  the  lands  of  Moss 
being  neither  extensive  nor  productive,  and  Thomas 
Buchanan  seems  to  have  suffered,  while  still  a  young 
man,  from  the  same  disease  which  at  an  equally  early 
age  afflicted  his  son  George.  His  father,  Bobert  of 
Drumikill,  could  afford  him  little  assistance,  as  his 
own  affairs  were  equally  unsatisfactory.  On  the 
death  of  her  husband,  while  her  family  was  still 

^  Steven,  History  of  George  HerioVs  Hospital.  ^  Epig.  ii.  23. 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION. 


11 


young  (George  was  probably  only  seven),  Agnes 
Heriot  found  herself  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits. 
It  was  indeed,  her  son  tells  us,  only  her  excellent 
qualities  that  enabled  her  to  rear  her  numerous 
family  in  the  face  of  the  difficulties  with  which  she 
had  to  contend.^  Poverty  was  to  be  Buchanan's 
own  constant  companion  to  the  very  close  of  his 
life,  so  that  this  early  acquaintance  with  strenuous 
self-denial  was  perhaps  the  best  discipline  he  could 
have  known.  At  the  same  time,  this  life-long 
prospect  of  actual  want,  though  it  never  drew  from 
Buchanan  the  pitiful  complaints  and  cringing  appeals 
of  Erasmus,  doubtless  helped  to  sour  a  temper  not 
naturally  very  uniform  or  accommodating. 

A  deed  dated  21st  July  1513  still  exists,  in  which 
a  lease  of  certain  lands  near  Cardross,  Menteith, 
is  granted  to  Agnes  Heriot  and  her  sons,  Thomas 
Buchanan  the  younger,  Patrick,  Alexander,  and 
George.^  When  he  was  about  seven  years  of  age, 
therefore,  Buchanan  must  have  left  Killearn  for  Car- 
dross  in  the  district  of  Menteith,  and  the  tradition  of 
that  neighbourhood  is  that  he  actually  passed  his  boy- 
hood there.  We  have  no  certain  record  as  to  where 
Buchanan  received  the  elements  of  his  education. 
He  himself  says  only  that  he  was  educated  in  the 
''schools  of  his  native  country".  The  tradition  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Killearn  is  that  he  attended 
school  in  that  village ;  and  a  writer  of  somewhat 
dubious  authority  states  that  he  attended  the  school 
of  Dumbarton.^  In  the  records  of  Dumbarton  no  trace 

^  The  family  motto  of  the  Hefiots  of  Trabroun  is  Fortem  posce 
animum. 

2  This  deed  was  found  in  Cardross  Castle.  The  lease  was  renewed 
in  August  1531.  In  the  renewed  lease  Buchanan  is  styled  Mr.  George. 
By  that  date  he  was  Master  of  Arts. 

2  Mackenzie,  Lives  of  Scots  Writers,  vol.  iii.  p.  156. 


12 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  Buchanan  as  a  pupil  can  be  found  ;  yet  in  the 
account  he  gives  in  his  History  of  the  capture  of 
Dumbarton  Castle  by  Captain  Crawford  in  1571  he 
describes  that  fortress  with  a  minuteness  of  detail 
which  suggests  the  familiarity  of  boyhood.  The 
schools  at  Killearn  and  Dumbarton,  it  may  be  said, 
were  both  of  some  repute.  It  is  as  probable  as  not, 
therefore,  that  Dumbarton  and  Killearn  were  the 
"  schools  of  his  native  country  "  to  which  he  himself 
refers.  At  Dumbarton  especially  we  may  be  certain 
that  Buchanan  would  have  ample  opportunity  of 
preparing  himself  to  take  his  place  in  the  schools  of 
Paris.  There  is  indeed  excellent  reason  for  be- 
lieving that,  with  the  exception  of  the  Netherlands, 
no  country  in  Europe  was  better  provided  than 
Scotland  with  schools  for  what  was  then  primary 
and  secondary  education.  Of  the  Low  Countries  it 
has  been  remarked  that  "  whereas  in  other  countries 
universities  preceded  grammar  schools,  in  the 
Netherlands  universities  were  a  development  of  the 
grammar  school  ".^  What  is  here  said  of  the  Nether- 
lands applies  in  large  measure  to  Scotland.  It  was 
the  pursuit  of  higher  education  that  took  so  many 
Scottish  students  to  the  continental  universities  ; 
and  it  was  the  perception  of  this  fact  that  led  to 
the  foundation  of  St.  Andrews,  and  afterwards  of 
Glasgow  and  Aberdeen.  We  have  documentary 
dLur^J^  evidence  "  that_^rajin^^ 
l^tijL^  nection  witb^  niost  of  the  cathedrals,  abbeys, 
ii^K^  1  collegiate  churches^  principaTlburffhs,  ^iid^  even  in 
[towns  which  have  since  sunk  into  obscurity  ".^  In 

^  Mark  Pattison,  Essays,  i.  p.  243  (Clarendon  Press,  1889). 

-  Grant,  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland,  p.  72  (Collins,  Glasgow,  1876). 
The  introductory  chapter  on  the  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland  previous  to 
the  Reformation  is  based  on  written  records  of  unquestionable  authority. 


PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION.  13 


Scotland,  in  fact,  centuries  before  the  Reformation, 
education  was  placed  within  the  reach  of  all  classes.^ 
In  these  schools  Latin  was  the  chief  subject  taught ; 
but,  curiously  enough,  Greek  also  seems  to  have  had 
a  place  in  certain  of  them.  The  Latin  taught  in 
Scotland  in  Buchanan's  day  must  have  been  far 
indeed  from  the  classical  standard  which  he  himself 
ultimately  attained  ;  and  as  for  Greek,  Buchanan 
did  not  receive  instruction  in  that  language  even  in 
the  schools  of  Paris,  but  had  afterwards  to  acquire 
it  by  his  own  unaided  efforts. 

By  his  fourteenth  year  Buchanan  had  given 
evidence  of  such  distinct  talent  that  his  mother's 
brother,  James  Heriot  (whose  name  Buchanan  is 
careful  to  mention  in  the  meagre  sketch  of  his  life  ^) 
determined  to  send  him  to  the  University  of  Paris, 
then  the  dream  of  all  the  studious  youth  of  Scotland. 
Glasgow  University  had  been  founded  in  1450,  but 
it  had  disappointed  the  hopes  of  its  founders,  and 
was  now  in  a  helpless  state  of  inefficiency.^  It  is 
certain  that  had  Buchanan  received  his  university 
training  in  Glasgow,  and  not  in  Paris,  his  career 
would  have  been  widely  different  from  what  it 
actually  was.  At  Glasgow  he  could  neither  have 
acquired  that  command  of  classical  Latin  which  was 
the  basis  of  his  reputation,  nor  would  he  have  been 
brought  into  contact,  at  the  most  susceptible  period 

^  Grant,  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland,  p.  72.  Mr.  Grant's  researches 
conclusively  prove  that  the  educational  advantages  of  the  country  made 
perfectly  reasonable  the  famous  Act  of  Parliament  of  1496,  enjoining  all 
iDarons  and  freeholders  that  were  of  substance  to  send  their  sons  to  school 
till  they  acquired  "  perfyt  Latin". 

2  This  James  Heriot  seems  to  have  been  "  Justiciar"  of  Lothian. 
See  pedigree  of  the  Trabroun  family  above  referred  to. 

3  Cosmo  Innes,  Sketches  of  EarUj Scotch Historij  ("The  University"). 
Edin.  186L 


14 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  his  life,  with  the  great  intellectual  and  religious 
movements  which  affected  him  so  powerfully. 

Thus  early,  therefore,  began  that  wandering 
life  which,  whether  of  necessity  or  choice,  was  to 
be  Buchanan's  fortune,  till  his  final  return  to  his 
native  country  when  past  his  fiftieth  year.  Save 
perhaps  for  one  short  visit,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
again  returned  to  his  native  district.  Except  for 
early  associations,  indeed,  the  country  where  his  home 
lay  could  have  had  but  little  attraction  for  him.  To 
modern  eyes  the  Blane  valley  is  a  delightful  vestibule 
to  the  glories  of  Highland  scenery,  and  "  the  varied 
realms  of  fair  Menteith  "  are  the  admiration  of  every 
year's  tourists.  But  Buchanan  had  the  feelings  of 
his  age  and  of  the  classical  tradition  in  the  matter 
of  scenery.  We  have  abundant  evidence  from  his 
writings  that  the  forests  and  hills  of  his  native 
districts  were  the  last  sights  in  the  world  on  which 
he  could  look  with  pleasure.  It  is  the  smiling 
plains  of  France,  with  their  broad,  calm  rivers,  that 
he  thinks  of  when  he  wishes  to  descant  on  the 
beauties  of  nature.^  His  native  district,  however, 
has  always  shown  itself  proud  of  his  great  reputation, 
and  his  monument,  a  towering  obelisk,  erected  in 
1788  on  the  ridge  on  which  the  village  of  Killearn 
stands,  is  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  neighbourhood. 
This  obelisk,  it  is  said,  was  fashioned  after  the 
model  of  that  which  commemorates  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne.^  There  is  undoubtedly  a  curious  fitness  in 
this  conjunction  of  the  names  of  William  iii.  and 
Buchanan. 

^  Cf.  for  example  his  Adve^itus  in  Galliam,  Fratres  Fraterrimi, 
xxviii. 

^  New  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland. 


CHAPTEE  11. 


REVIVAL   OF   LETTERS   AND   RELIGIOUS   REFORM  IN 

PARIS — Buchanan's  first  studies  there. 

1520-1522. 

Buchanan  was  more  or  less  directly  connected  with 
Paris  and  its  University  for  the  next  twelve  years — 
a  period,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  among  the  most 
important  not  only  in  the  history  of  the  University 
but  of  France  itself^  When  Buchanan  arrived  in 
Paris  in  1520,  its  University  no  longer  held  that 
place  in  the  mind  of  Europe  which  it  had  held 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  There  is,  indeed,  good 
ground  for  supposing  that  even  by  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century  the  Paris  schools  had  lost  some- 
thing of  their  prestige  as  the  intellectual  centre  of 
Europe.  "  The  zeal  of  that  illustrious  school,'^  wrote 
Richard  of  Bury,  during  the  invasion  of  France  by 
Edward  iii.,  "has  become  lukewarm,  nay,  even 
frozen,  whose  rays  once  illumined  every  comer  of 
the  earth."  ^  Even  before  that  period  the  most 
influential  thinkers  were  no  longer  Frenchmen,  and 
the  most  important  books  in  theology  were  no  longer 

1  On  this  occasion,  Buchanan  remained  two  years  in  Paris.  On  his 
second  visit,  made  some  three  years  later,  he  remained  ten.  Later  in 
life  he  made  other  sojourns  there,  two  of  them  of  several  years'  duration. 

^  Quoted  by  Mr.  Mullinger,  The  University  of  Cambridge  from  the 
Earliest  Times  to  the  Boyal  Injunctions  of  1535,  p.  214. 

15 


16 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


produced  in  the  University  of  Paris.  ^  Nevertheless, 
so  long  as  scholasticism  continued  to  satisfy  the 
intellectual  needs  of  Europe,  Paris  remained  the 
great  school  to  which  men  were  drawn  as  by  natural 
attraction.  And  north  of  the  Alps,  to  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  hold  of  scholasticism 
on  men's  minds  was  hardly  less  powerful  than  ever 
it  had  been.  But  during  that  century  a  new  world 
of  spiritual  and  intellectual  interests  had  been 
opened  up  by  the  scholars  of  Italy.  The  literatures 
of  Greece  and  Rome  had  revealed  to  these  scholars 
conditions  of  thought  and  feeling  which  made  im- 
possible for  them  the  barren  subtleties  of  the 
scholastic  theology.  As  their  discovery  was  in 
reality  an  immense  emancipation  for  the  human 
spirit,  it  was  merely  a  question  of  time  how  soon  the 
best  minds  of  Europe  should  be  universally  drawn 
to  their  side.  As  it  happened,  the  University  of 
Paris  was  the  last  great  centre  of  studies  to  open  its 
doors  to  the  new  gospel.  Scholasticism  was  indeed 
so  bound  up  with  all  the  interests  of  the  University, 
that  to  break  with  it  would  have  implied  a  trans- 
formation of  its  very  mode  of  being.  The  expedi- 
tions of  the  French  kings,  Charles  viii.  and  Louis  xii., 
had  brought  France  and  Italy  into  too  close  rela- 
tions not  to  have  imported  into  Paris  something 
of  the  new  ideals  of  the  Italian  humanists ;  but 
there  was  no  ready  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities  of  the  University  to  give  any  important 
place  to  those  new  studies  and  new  methods  which 
ran  counter  to  the  traditions  of  their  own  schools. 
In  1498  Erasmus  sought  and  found  in  Oxford  the 

^  Kaufmann,  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Universitdten  (1888),  Intro- 
ductory Section. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  17 


instruction  in  Greek  which  he  had  sought  in  vain 
in  Paris.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth 
and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  teachers 
of  Greek  were  always  to  be  found  in  Paris,  but  the 
instruction  they  gave  was  of  the  most  elementary 
kind,  and  they  themselves  held  no  assured  position 
in  the  University.  Not,  indeed,  till  1530  did 
Greek  receive  a  recognised  place  in  the  schools  of 
Paris.  In  that  year  Francis  i.,  mainly  inspired  by 
the  greatest  Greek  scholar  of  his  day  in  France, 
Guillaume  Bude,  founded  the  College  Eoyal^ 
for  the  teaching  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew. 
But  this  foundation  was  made  in  the  teeth  of  the 
most  vehement  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Uni- 
versity.^ Even  the  study  of  the  Latin  classics,  as 
they  had  come  to  be  known  through  the  labours  of 
the  Italians,  found  little  favour  in  Paris ;  and  till 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
records  of  the  University  continued  to  be  written 
mainly  in  the  Latin  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Of  this 
Latin  style  we  have  a  perfect  example  in  the 
History  of  Scotland  by  our  own  John  Major,  who, 
as  late  as  1530,  was  one  of  the  foremost  figures 
in  the  University  of  Paris. 

Such  was  the  general  attitude  towards  the  new 
studies  on  the  part  of  the  University  when 
Buchanan  arrived  there  in  1 5 2 0.  In  certain  quarters, 
indeed,  strong  dissatisfaction  was  felt  at  the  exist- 
ing state  of  things,  and  within  due  limits  strenuous 
efforts  were  really  being  made  to  rationalise  the 
traditional  subjects  of  study.    In  this  connection, 

^  Afterwards  the  College  de  France. 

2  According  to  the  theologians  of  Paris,  Greek  was  simply  "the 
language  of  heretics". 

B 


18  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  work  of  Lefevre  d'fitaples  is  specially  note- 
worthy. Lefevre  had  studied  in  Italy,  and  made 
himself  acquainted  with  the  results  attained  by  its 
scholars.  He  did  not,  however,  become  a  humanist 
of  the  Italian  type,  preferring  purity  of  form  to 
sound  knowledge.^  Philosophy  was  at  first  his 
main  subject  of  study,  and  with  the  lights  he  had 
received  in  Italy  he  made  it  his  first  great  work  to 
present  Aristotle  in  a  rational  form  to  the  scholars 
of  Paris. ^  This  work  he  accomplished  before  1517, 
but,  as  we  shall  see,  Buchanan  had  not  the  good 
fortune  to  profit  by  it.  Even  more  important  was 
the  work  which  Lefevre  accomplished  in  theology. 
By  his  liberal  and  intelligent  handling  of  the  text 
of  Scripture,  he  did  more  than  any  other  French- 
man, except  Calvin  himself,  to  induce  a  critical 
attitude  towards  the  traditions  of  the  Church. 
Lefevre's  philosophical  and  theological  labours  were 
alike  an  abomination  to  the  University,  and  in  1525, 
during  the  captivity  of  Francis  i.  after  the  battle 
of  Pavia,  it  succeeded  in  driving  him  from  the 
country.^  Buchanan  has  paid  his  own  tribute  to 
the  work  and  character  of  Lefevre,  and  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  he  owed  a  direct  debt  to  this 
forerunner  of  Calvin.* 

There  is  no  one  else  in  the  opening  years  of  the 
sixteenth  century  at  Paris  to  be  named  with  Lefevre 
for  general  openness  of  mind  and  actual  achievement. 
But  that  he  had  a  considerable  following  is  conclu- 

^  Graf,  La  Vie  et  les  Ecrits  de  Jacques  Lefevre  d'Etaples  (Strasbourg, 
1842),  p.  7.  2  iiid^     9,  3  xijI^^  p 

*  Buchanan  thus  celebrates  Lefevre's  services  to  letters : — 

Qui  studiis  primus  lucem  intulit  omnibus,  artes 
Edoctum  cunctas  haec  tegit  urna  Fabrum. 

Heu  !  tenebrae  tantum  potuere  extinguere  lumen, 
Si  non  in  tenebris  lux  tamen  ista  micet. — JEpig.  ii.  11. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  19 


sively  proved  by  the  ready  acceptance  given  to  the 
doctrines  of  Luther,  which,  about  the  date  of 
Buchanan's  arrival,  had  begun  to  find  their  way  into 
France.  It  should  be  said,  also,  that  certain  of  the 
colleges  were  much  more  disposed  than  others  to 
welcome  the  new  lights.  The  Colleges  of  Montaigu 
and  Ste.  Barbe  (with  which  we  shall  afterwards  see 
Buchanan  associated)  may  be  taken  as  representing 
the  extreme  tendencies  of  the  University.  The 
administration  of  the  College  Montaigu  under  Jean 
Standonck  shows  what  ideals  were  still  possible  in 
Paris,  even  into  the  opening  years  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Erasmus,  who  was  a  member  of  this 
college  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,^  has 
given  a  vivid  description  of  its  domestic  arrange- 
ments and  its  scheme  of  studies.  Of  the  latter,  it 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  their  unprofitable  absurdity 
more  than  anything  else  made  Erasmus  through- 
out his  life  the  inveterate  foe  of  the  schoolmen. 
On  the  other  hand,  Ste.  Barbe  was  under  more 
rational  management,  and  at  least  from  about 
1525  onwards  freely  adopted  the  reforms  of  the 
humanists.^ 

But  besides  the  question  of  the  new  studies, 
another  matter  then  engaged  the  University,  of  still 
greater  importance,  and  provocative  of  still  fiercer 
conflict  of  opinion.  The  doctrines  of  Luther  had  met 
with  acceptance  in  unexpected  quarters.  In  1519, 
a  year  before  Buchanan's  arrival  in  Paris,  Luther's 
dispute  with  Eck  had  been  referred  to  the  Univer- 
sity for  decision.    Its  judgment,  withheld  for  two 

^  As  also  the  Scotsmen  Boece  and  Major.  Rabelais  has  directed  his 
keenest  wit  against  the  wretched  treatment  of  the  students  in  this 
college. 

^  J.  Quicherat,  Histoire  de  Sainte-Barbe  (Paris,  1860),  vol.  i.  p.  150. 


20 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


years,  was  an  unqualified  censure  of  Luther's 
position.  As  in  Buchanan,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  the 
humanist  and  the  religious  reformer  remained  mixed 
in  varying  proportions,  it  is  important  that  we 
should  understand  the  religious  position  in  Paris 
during  this  period  of  his  connection  with  the  Univer- 
sity. It  was  in  the  conflicts  of  the  old  and  the  new 
studies,  and  of  the  old  and  the  new  religions,  during 
these  years  in  Paris,  that  Buchanan  acquired  the 
bent  which  he  retained  till  his  final  return  to 
Scotland  about  1560. 

From  the  first  introduction  of  Luther's  opinions 
into  Paris,  it  was  noted  that  the  men  with  whom 
they  found  most  favour  were  the  zealous  advocates 
of  reform  in  the  University  studies.^  In  the 
interests  of  the  new  learning  this  was  unfortunate, 
as  scholar  and  heretic  gradually  came  to  be 
synonymous  terms,  and  the  new  studies  to  be  de- 
nounced as  ferociously  as  novel  tenets  in  theology. 
In  the  colleges,  where  the  traditions  of  scholasticism 
had  come  to  be  regarded  with  scanty  respect,  secret 
sympathisers  with  Luther  were  found  in  considerable 
numbers  between  1520  and  1530.  In  Ste.  Barbe, 
where  Buchanan  afterwards  acted  as  regent,  all 
shades  of  orthodoxy  and  heterodoxy  were  to  be 
found,  Lutheranism  very  prominently  among  the 
rest.^  On  all  these  novelties  the  University 
authorities  looked  with  horror  and  alarm.  In 
their  opposition  to  reform  both  in  studies  and  in 
religion,  there  was  doubtless  much  honest  zeal, 
especially  on  the  part  of  the  theological  faculty. 

^  "Le  Lutheranisme,  ne  en  Allemagne,  s'insinuoit  en  France  ;  et  il 
faut  avouer  que  les  gens  de  lettres  se  portoient  volontiers  de  ce  cote." 
— Crevier,  Histoire  de  VUniversite  de  Paris,  vol.  v.  p.  169. 

2  Quicherat,  Sainte-Barhe,  vol.  i.  chap.  xxi. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM. 


21 


Yet  the  theologians  could  hardly  conceal  from 
themselves  the  fact  that  these  reforms  virtually 
meant  the  reconstruction  of  the  entire  University — 
a  reconstruction  in  which  their  ancient  prestige 
would  be  gone.  The  powers  of  the  theological 
faculty  were  directed  and  concentrated  by  the  famous 
College  of  the  Sorbonne  in  its  opposition  to  reform. 
By  the  nature  of  its  constitution,  and  by  its  dogged 
adhesion  to  every  tittle  of  the  scholastic  theology, 
this  College  had  gained  such  ascendency  in  the 
councils  of  the  University  that  it  came  practically 
to  represent  the  entire  theological  faculty.^  Directed 
by  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  the  opposition  of 
the  University  to  reform  in  religion  was  not  less 
formidable  than  that  of  Rome  itself.  Its  immense 
authority  was  due  partly  to  its  fame  as  the  infal- 
lible oracle  of  theological  science ;  but,  above  all,  to 
the  fact  that  its  decisions  in  every  case  received  the 
faithful  support  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris. 

Next  to  Rome  itself,  the  theological  faculty  of 
Paris  had  been  the  main  support  on  which  the 
highest  teaching  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  rested. 
It  claimed  for  itself  the  right — denied  to  the  Pope 
himself — of  sovereign  decree  on  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  all  religious  doctrine.^  Its  doctors  clearly 
saw,  therefore,  that  should  the  reforms  in  studies 
and  religion  take  effect,  their  whole  doctrinal  sys- 
tem would  be  discredited,  and  they  themselves 
dethroned  from  their  pre-eminent  place  as  the  ad- 
visers of  popes  and  princes,  and  the  teachers  of  the 
highest  forms  of  truth.    It  was  this  consciousness 

1  Thurot,  De  V  Organisation  de  I'Enseignement  clans  VUniversite  de 
Paris  au  Moyeji-Age,  p.  130.  The  College  de  Navarre  was  wealthier 
than  the  Sorbonne,  but  it  never  attained  its  fame  and  authority. 

2  Ibid.  p.  160. 


22 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  their  very  existence  being  at  stake  which  through- 
out the  whole  century  inspired  their  ceaseless  war 
with  every  form  of  what  they  deemed  heresy. 

During  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  the 
battle  between  the  two  parties  was  practically 
fought  and  decided.  The  party  of  reform  un- 
doubtedly numbered  in  its  ranks  the  best  spirits 
of  the  University ;  but  in  spite  of  its  zeal  and 
the  distinction  of  its  representatives,  its  existence 
would  have  been  a  brief  one  but  for  the  good 
wishes  and  sometimes  the  efficient  services  of 
Francis  i.  In  this  matter,  as  in  all  others,  Francis 
showed  his  inability  to  lay  down  for  himself  a 
settled  plan  of  action  and  abide  by  it ;  yet  it  must 
be  admitted  that  as  far  as  he  could  have  any  motive 
at  heart  besides  his  own  self-gratification,  he  sin- 
cerely sympathised  with  the  new  spirit  of  his  time. 
Even  though  eventually  he  so  bitterly  disappointed 
the  hopes  of  the  French  religious  reformers,  they 
still  acknowledged  that  the  country  ow^ed  him  a 
debt  for  his  genuine  interest  in  the  cause  of  true 
learning.  It  may  be  regarded  as  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  Francis's  undoubted  claims  to  gratitude  in 
this  instance,  that  Beza  in  his  Icones  heads  his  French 
worthies  with  the  portrait  of  that  monarch,  and 
while  apologising  to  his  fellow-religionists  for  its 
intrusion,  frankly  states  the  debt  of  learning  to  a 
king  "  whose  vices  seemed  almost  virtues  in  the 
light  of  the  depravity  of  later  times  ".^  But  during 
the  captivity  of  Francis,  after  the  battle  of  Pavia, 
the  Sorbonne  and  the  Parliament  laid  a  heavy  hand 

^  The  same  acknowledgment  to  Francis  is  made  in  the  Histoire 
EccUsiastique  des  Eqlises  reformees  au  Boyaume  cle  France,  published  at 
Geneva  in  1580,  p.  3. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  23 

on  the  professors  of  the  new  reUgion,  burning 
some,  and  driving  others  into  exile.  In  1529  the 
theologians  gained  a  great  triumph  in  the  burning 
of  Louis  de  Berquin — "  the  most  learned  of  the 
nobles  " — the  most  daring  champion  of  reform  in 
learning  and  religion,  who  had  hitherto  been  sup- 
ported in  his  defiance  of  the  old  order  by  Francis 
himself  It  soon  appeared  that  the  death  of  Ber- 
quin meant  the  triumph  of  traditional  theology  in 
France,  and  the  precarious  existence  of  the  new 
learning  for  nearly  the  remainder  of  the  century. 
The  ill-conditioned  zeal  of  the  Lutherans  them- 
selves in  Paris  and  elsewhere  in  great  measure  lost 
them  the  chance  of  gaining  the  country.  The 
stupid  affair  of  the  Placards  in  1534,  when  un- 
seemly remarks  on  the  ^  old  religion  were  inscribed 
in  the  most  public  places  of  the  city,  seemed  to 
give  Francis  the  excuse  he  wanted  for  throwing  in 
his  lot  once  for  all  with  the  party  with  which  he 
thought  he  saw  that  his  real  interests  lay.  From 
this  date  it  may  be  said  that  the  battle  of  religious 
reform  in  France  was  lost.  In  the  years  imme- 
diately following  1520  it  had  certainly  seemed  as  if 
the  new  opinions  approved  by  the  most  enlightened 
minds  in  the  University,  and  favoured  by  the  King, 
and  especially  by  his  famous  sister,  Margaret  of 
Navarre,  had  as  fair  prospect  of  victory  in  France 
as  elsewhere.  Many  reasons  have  been  given  for 
this  abortive  reformation  in  France ;  but  the  im- 
pression we  gain  from  the  writings  of  the  time 
scarcely  leaves  us  in  any  doubt  as  to  the  true  one. 
The  relations  of  France  to  Eome  had  all  along  been 
so  intimate  that  to  break  them  at  any  time  during 
the  sixteenth  century  would  have  implied  the  dis- 


24 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


ruption  of  the  French  nation.  And  the  University 
of  Paris,  by  its  immitigable  antagonism  to  all 
reform  in  religion,  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
main  factors  in  finally  thwarting  the  forces  that 
made  for  such  reform.  All  through  the  century 
the  new  opinions  continued  to  gain  support  among 
the  best  educated  classes  in  the  provinces ;  but, 
opposed  by  the  Crown  and  the  University,  the 
French  reformers  could  not  but  fail  to  make  their 
cause  the  cause  of  the  nation. 

It  was  almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  twofold 
struggle  above  described  that  Buchanan  first  found 
himself  in  France,  and  as  he  himself  came  to  have 
his  own  share  in  that  struggle,  and  as  the  bent  of 
his  life  was  mainly  taken  during  these  very  years, 
it  was  necessary  that  some  account  should  be  given 
of  the  great  questions  at  issue. 

For  several  centuries  before  Buchanan's  day  the 
University  of  Paris  had  been  to  Scottish  students 
far  more  than  of  late  years  the  German  Universities 
have  been  to  their  descendants.  Especially  since 
the  foundation  of  the  Scots  College  in  1325  there 
had  been  a  continuous  stream  of  Scots  to  that  city. 
An  interesting  document  lately  published  enables 
us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  numbers  of  Scottish 
students  who  might  have  been  found  in  Paris  at 
any  time  during  the  fifteenth  century.  This  is  the 
annual  account  of  the  German  "  Nation "  of  the 
Paris  University  for   the   year   1494.^    In  this 

1  This  account  is  given  in  Jourdain's  Excursions  Historiques  et 
Politiques  a  travers  le  Moyen  Age  (Paris,  1888).  It  is  perhaps  worth 
mentioning  that  the  name  of  John  Major  appears  in  the  list  of  Masters 
of  Arts.  The  entry  of  his  name  is  as  follows  :  "  Johannes  Maior,  dyo- 
cesis  S.  Andree.  Bursa  valet  4  sol."  The  fee  paid  by  Major  is  that  of 
most  of  the  graduates,  viz.,  1  lib. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM. 


25 


account  we  have  the  hst  of  the  students  who  in 
that  year  paid  the  fees  for  the  degrees  of  Bachelor 
and  Master  of  Arts.  Out  of  the  number  of  eighty- 
six,  twenty-one  are  Scots. ^  As  probably  the  large 
majority  of  students  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor,^ 
and  at  least  three  years'  study  was  required  of  the 
candidate,  we  may  form  some  notion  of  the  total 
number  of  Scots  then  attending  the  University. 
It  would  also  appear  that  students  were  relieved 
from  the  above  fees  on  a  satisfactory  plea  of 
poverty,  and  such  a  plea,  we  may  suppose,  was 
likely  to  be  as  frequently  urged  by  Scottish 
students  as  by  their  neighbours.  At  an  earlier 
period  than  the  date  of  the  above  account  the 
numbers  of  Scottish  students  must  have  been  even 
larger,  since  by  1494  the  Universities  of  St.  An- 
drews and  Glasgow  had  both  been  founded.  Al- 
together, these  facts  conclusively  show  to  what  a 
large  extent  Scotland  must  have  been  indebted  to 
France  for  the  training  of  her  most  useful  citizens.^ 
It  is  probable  that  the  bulk  of  the  Scots 
students  who  found  their  way  to  Paris  belonged  to 
the  upper  and  middle  classes.  Through  the  influ- 
ence of  some  patron,  the  Scots  College  was,  of 
course,  open  to  poor  students;  but  that  College 

^  The  German  Nation  included  English,  Irish,  Germans,  Poles,  and 
generally  all  students  from  the  northern  countries  of  Europe. 
Thurot,  p.  40  (note). 

2  On  the  Continent  there  seems  to  have  been  a  very  distinct  impres- 
sion of  the  Scottish  character  and  intellect.  Major  {De  Gestis  Sco- 
torum,  lib.  i.  cap.  vii.)  reports  that  in  his  day  it  was  a  common  French 
proverb,  "  II  est  fier  comme  ung  Escossois."  And  Erasmus,  in  a  curious 
passage  in  his  Praise  of  Folly,  in  which  he  enumerates  the  characteristics 
of  the  various  European  nations,  says  that  "the  Scots  plumed  them- 
selves on  their  high  birth  and  kindred  with  the  royal  family,  and  also  on 
their  skill  in  dialectic  subtleties."  At  a  later  day  Galileo  seems  to 
have  had  a  similar  impression  regarding  the  type  of  the  Scottish  intel- 
lect (MS.  in  Advocates'  Library,  Edin.,  referred  to  by  Tytler,  History  of 
Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  288  (ed.  1873). 


26 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


could  provide  only  for  a  small  number  of  the  Scots 
who  year  after  year  sought  the  University.  The 
average  number  of  bursars  in  each  of  the  ^fifty 
colleges  that  had  been  founded  in  Paris  was  only 
nineteen,^  and  in  all  likelihood  the  number  pro- 
vided for  at  the  Scots  College  would  be  rather 
under  than  above  this  average.  The  account  of  the 
German  Nation  above  referred  to  throws  some  light 
on  the  comparative  wealth  of  the  students.  The 
fees  charged  on  the  attainment  of  the  degrees  of 
bachelor  and  licentiate  were  in  proportion  to  the 
bursa  or  weekly  expenses  of  the  student ;  and  an 
examination  of  the  account  shows  that  the  Scots 
were  at  least  as  well-to-do  as  their  fellows.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  mendicancy 
largely  prevailed  among  the  younger  scholars,  and 
was  regarded 'as  no  disgrace.^  By  this  means,  there- 
fore, poor  Scots  lads,  once  in  Paris,  might  eke  out  a 
living  till  they  had  taken  the  degree  privileging 
them  to  "  regent "  or  teach  in  the  schools  of  the 
University.  Buchanan's  own  case,  as  we  shall 
see,  shows  through  what  hardship  and  difficulty 
many  a  Scots  student  must  have  fought  his  way  to 
learning. 

Even  the  difficulties  of  the  journey  from  Scot- 
land to  Paris  were  such  as  might  have  daunted  less 
hardy  students.  In  reading  the  Latinists  of  the 
sixteenth  century  we  must  always  make  allowance 
for  a  certain  licence  of  statement ;  yet  we  must 
suppose  that  in  a  sentence  of  John  Vans,  the  Aber- 
deen grammarian,  there  is  at  least  some  element  of 
truth.  Yaus  paid  a  visit  to  Paris  in  1522  for  the 
purpose  of  publishing  a  grammatical  work,  and  he 

1  Thurot,  p.  126.  2  jj^-^  p  39 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  27 


speaks  of  his  journey  as  being  attended  "  with  the 
greatest  risks  by  land  and  sea,  and  dangers  from 
unscrupulous  pirates  In  England,  lads  proceed- 
ing to  Cambridge  from  the  remoter  districts  went 
in  a  body  under  a  "fetcher".^  It  is  possible  that 
some  such  arrangement  may  have  existed  in  Scot- 
land in  connection  with  France.  Dumbarton, the 
nearest  sea-port  to  Buchanan's  home,  had  an  active 
trade  with  France,  and  small  detachments  of  young 
Scotsmen  may  have  been  convoyed  from  that  port 
for  the  opening  of  the  Paris  schools  in  October. 

It  must  have  been  a  remarkable  experience  for 
a  boy  of  fourteen,  like  Buchanan,  to  be  transported 
from  some  provincial  Scottish  town  into  the  extra- 
ordinary world  that  composed  the  University  of 
Paris.  It  seems  impossible  to  determine  the  exact 
number  of  students  and  teachers  who  made  up  its 
society  at  any  given  period.  When  the  whole 
community  assembled  on  great  occasions,  however, 
its  numbers  seemed  those  of  a  considerable  town. 
Of  the  life  of  the  students  something  will  have  to 
be  said  in  another  place  ;  but  a  few  sentences  from 
a  writer  studiously  moderate  in  all  his  statements 
will  give  some  notion  of  the  society  into  which 
Buchanan  was  now  thrown : — "  Such  a  world,  we 
may  imagine,  was  not  easy  to  discipline.  Not  only, 
like  the  students  of  all  ages  and  countries,  did 
they  frequent  cabarets  and  questionable  haunts, 
and  mercilessly  fleece  every  freshman  (whom  they 
styled  a  hejaune),  but  they  even  committed  crimes 
which  in  our  own  day  conduct  to  the  convict-prison. 

^  "  Per  maxima  terrarum  et  maris  discrimina  piratarumque  qui  in- 
justissimi  sunt  latrocinia."  Cf.  Cosmo  Innes,  Sketches  of  Early  Scotch 
History,  p.  272  note.    Edin.  186L 

2  Mullinger,  History  of  Cambridge  University,  p.  346. 


28 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


They  associated  themselves  with  vagabonds  and 
criminals,  swaggered  the  streets  at  night  in  arms, 
snapped  their  fingers  at  the  law,  assassinated,  broke 
into  citizens'  houses.  The  fetes  celebrated  by  the 
Nations  in  honour  of  their  patrons,  instead  of  being 
an  occasion  of  edification,  were  only  a  provocation 
to  drunkenness  and  debauch.  The  students  scoured 
the  streets  of  Paris  in  arms,  disturbed  the  peace- 
able citizens  by  their  shouts,  maltreated  every  in- 
offensive passer-by.  In  1276  they  even  played  dice 
on  the  altars  of  the  churches."  ^  As  the  result  of 
endless  conflicts  with  the  civil  authorities  of  the 
city,  the  students  were  by  Buchanan's  day  under 
somewhat  severer  restraint ;  but  the  records  of  the 
University  show  that  even  then  there  were  still 
frequent  occasions  when  all  discipline  was  thrown 
to  the  winds. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  University 
of  Paris,  as  it  had  grown  up  through  the  Middle 
Ages,  was  in  many  respects  something  very  differ- 
ent from  what  we  conceive  as  a  University.  The 
University  of  Paris  did  at  once  the  work  of  an 
elementary  school,  a  secondary  school,  and  a  uni- 
versity. Before  a  student  could  enter  the  Faculty 
of  Arts,  he  must  have  learned  reading,  writing,  and 
the  elements  of  Latin  grammar,^  and  these  subjects 
he  could  acquire  at  the  schools  of  the  University. 
It  was  usual  for  students  to  enter  the  Arts  Faculty 
before  the  age  of  fifteen,  but,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Scottish  Universities,  men  of  all  ages  sat  on  the 
same  benches  with  mere  boys.  The  first  degree  to 
be  taken  was  that  of  Bachelor,  for  which  a  two 
years'  course  of  logic  was  required,  the  candidate 

1  Thurot,  p.  40.  2  jj^-^,  37, 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOCJS  REFORM.  29 


not  being  under  fourteen  years  of  age/  Both  the 
term  of  study  and  the  subjects  prescribed  varied  at 
different  periods.  Buchanan,  as  we  shall  see,  com- 
pleted three  years'  study  before  he  was  made  Bache- 
lor, and  other  subjects  besides  logic  made  a  large 
part  of  his  curriculum.  For  the  degree,  or  rather 
title,  of  Bachelor,  the  student  received  simply  a 
certificate,  and  not  a  diploma — Bachelorship  not 
conferring  the  privilege  of  teaching  in  connection 
with  the  University.  By  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  might  take  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and 
thus  become  a  licentiate,  with  full  privilege  to  teach 
in  any  university  of  Europe.  For  the  licentiates, 
also,  the  subjects  prescribed  for  -  examination  varied 
greatly  at  different  periods ;  but  till  after  Buchan- 
an's day  these  subjects  were  mainly  logic,  moral 
and  natural  philosophy,  mathematics  and  astronomy. 
Having  finished  his  course  in  Arts,  the  student 
might  then  enter  one  of  the  higher  faculties,  as 
they  were  called,  of  law,  medicine,  and  theology." 
While  pursuing  his  studies  in  any  of  these  subjects 
he  might  earn  a  subsistence  by  regenting  in  the 
Arts  Faculty.  If  he  chose  theology  as  his  profes- 
sion, he  could  not  attain  to  all  the  privileges  of  that 
Faculty  till  he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  at  the 
age  of  thirty -five. 

There  were  various  ways  in  which  the  scholars 
of  Paris  in  Buchanan's  day  could  prosecute  their 
studies.    They  might  be  presented  to  one  of  the 

^  Strictly  speaking,  "  bachelorship  did  not  imply  admission  to  a 
degree,  but  simply  the  termination  of  the  state  of  pupildom". — MuUinger, 
p.  352.  Scholars  and  bachelors  were  called  dominus ;  the  licentiates, 
magister, — Thurot,  p.  60  (note). 

2  Licence  in  Arts  was  compulsory  for  the  higher  degrees  in  law, 
theology,  and  medicine. 


30 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


fifty  colleges  that  now  made  so  important  a  part  of 
the  University.  In  certain  of  these  colleges  the 
students  both  boarded  and  received  instruction  as 
bursars.  They  might  board  at  pensionnats  {paeda- 
gogia)  attached  to  the  colleges,  attending  the  col- 
leges themselves  for  instruction.^  Again,  living  in 
private  lodgings,  they  might  attend  the  classes  of 
some  particular  college,  or  the  public  classes  con- 
nected with  the  Nation  to  which  they  belonged. 
Buchanan  has  not  told  us  in  which  of  these  various 
ways  he  began  his  studies  in  Paris ;  but  the  fact 
that  he  does  not  specify  any  college,  and  that  on 
the  death  of  his  uncle  want  of  means  forced  him  to 
return  to  Scotland,  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  he 
was  not  a  bursar.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that, 
living  in  private  lodgings,  he  may  have  attended  the 
public  classes  of  the  German  Nation.  The  students 
who  lived  in  this  fashion  were  known  as  martinets, 
and,  as  we  should  expect,  they  formed  the  most 
unruly  element  in  the  schools.  So  much  trouble, 
indeed,  did  these  martinets  occasion,  that  in  1463 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  decided  that  they  would  grant 
no  certificate  to  a  student  who  did  not  reside  in  a 
college,  a  paedagogium,  the  house  of  some  relative, 
or  that  of  some  well-known  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity.^ This  decision,  however,  remained  a  dead 
letter,  as  till  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  num- 
bers of  students  took  up  their  abode  wherever  they 

^  Paedagogia,  that  is,  boarding-houses  for  students,  with  some  mem- 
bers of  the  University  at  their  head.  They  were  usually  attached  to 
some  college.  It  is  possible  that  Buchanan  may  have  been  a  boarder 
in  one  of  these,  seeing  he  was  not  a  bursar,  and  had  to  pay  for  his  own 
maintenance.  The  suggestion  in  the  text,  however,  we  think  more 
probable. 

2  Thurot,  p.  97. 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  31 


could  find  quarters/  The  German  Nation  was  well 
equipped  with  schools,  both  for  the  elementary  and 
for  more  advanced  instruction  of  its  members.  It 
possessed  eight  schools  in  the  Rue  du  Fouarre,  con- 
sisting of  two  houses,  known  respectively  as  the 
Magnae  Scolae  and  Scolae  Septem  Artium.  The 
Nation  also  owned  another  house  in  the  Rue  Ga- 
lande,  at  the  sign  of  the  Pomme  Rouge,  with  land 
adjoining  the  Seine  ;  another  in  the  Rue  du  Clos- 
Bruneau,  having  for  sign  A  V Image  de  Notre-Bame} 
As  the  two  years  that  Buchanan  now  spent  in 
Paris  were  afterwards  placed  to  his  credit  at  St. 
Andrews,  he  must  at  once  have  enrolled  himself  as 
a  student  of  the  Arts  Faculty.  This  implies,  as 
has  already  been  said,  that  he  had  mastered  at  least 
the  elements  of  Latin  grammar  when  he  arrived 
there.  The  studies  of  these  two  years  he  has 
described  for  us  in  a  single  sentence.  Partly  of 
his  own  choice,"  he  says,  and  partly  of  compulsion, 
the  writing  of  Latin  verse,  then  the  one  subject 
prescribed  for  boys,  made  the  chief  pai-t  of  his 
literary  studies."  ^  That  two  years  of  the  course 
required  for  Bachelorship  should  thus  have  been 
mainly  devoted  to  Latin  would  seem  to  imply  that 
important  modifications  had  been  made  on  the  sub- 
jects of  study.  The  traditional  regulation  was  that 
the  whole  three  years  should  be  almost  exclusively 
devoted  to  logic — knowledge  of  Latin  grammar 
and  other  elementary  subjects  being  presupposed. 

1  Pasquier,  Recherches,  etc.,  i.  ix.  ch.  xvii.  (quoted  by  Jourdain, 
Excursions  Historiques  et  Philosophiques,  p.  262  note). 

2  It  should  be  said  that  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the 
schools  in  the  Rue  du  Fouarre  were  closed.  After  that  date,  instruction 
was  mainly  given  in  the  colleges  amd  paedagogia. — Thurot,  p.  98. 

2  Vita  Sua.    See  Appendix  A. 


32 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


This  statement  of  Buchanan,  however,  is  borne  out 
by  the  fact  that  in  1452  the  Faculty  of  Arts  passed 
a  law  in  which  it  specially  insisted  on  knowledge  of 
the  rules  of  versification  on  the  part  of  candidates 
for  the  bachelors  certificate.^  It  would  be  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  this  instruction  in  Latin 
necessarily  implied  a  more  intelligent  conception 
of  the  value  of  literary  studies.  Verse-making 
in  Latin  had  for  centuries  been  practised  in  the 
cloister  schools  ;  and  Erasmus  has  told  us  in  suffi- 
ciently emphatic  terms  how  stale  and  unprofitable 
the  exercise  could  be  made.  "  Heavens ! "  he 
exclaims,  what  an  age  was  that  when  the  dis- 
tichs  of  John  Garland  were  explained  to  us  boys 
with  laboured  and  prolix  commentaries,  and  the 
largest  part  of  our  time  was  wasted  in  dictating 
and  repeating  the  most  foolish  verses."^ 

It  was  undoubtedly  in  large  measure  this  early 
training  in  Latin  verse  that  lost  Buchanan  to  the 
vernacular  literature  of  his  native  country.  His 
own  fine  natural  instinct  for  purity  of  form,  and 
this  assiduous  practice  in  his  youth,  soon  gained  him 
a  reputation  in  an  exercise  in  which  all  his  contem- 
poraries strove  to  excel.  ^  As  far  as  contemporary 
fame  was  concerned,  it  was,  of  course,  an  immense 
advantage  that  he  should  write  in  Latin.  At  the 
same  time,  it  lost  him  that  place  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen  which  his  genius  and  intensely 
Scottish  type  of  character  must  certainly  have 

^  Thurot,  p.  84.  It  is  worth  noting  that  Latin  versification  was 
taught  by  Italians  in  Paris.  The  Paris  doctors  looked  with  disdain  on 
an  exercise  which  they  considered  worthy  only  of  a  schoolmaster. 

2  Erasmus,  Opera,  i.  514  f.  (edit.  Le  Clerc). 

2  On  this  subject  cf.  Pattison's  Essays,  vol.  i.  pp.  98,  210  (Clarendon 
Press,  1889). 


REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS  AND  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.  33 

assured  him.  In  extent  of  mental  horizon,  as 
probably  in  natural  poetic  gifts,  he  was  superior  to 
his  countrymen  Dunbar,  Lyndsay,  and  Douglas  ;  but 
as  it  has  happened,  all  these  three  have  now  a 
vitality  which  can  never  again  in  the  nature  of  things 
be  his.  If,  coming  at  the  time  he  did,  he  had  made 
choice  of  his  native  speech  as  the  vehicle  of  poetic 
expression,  he  would  have  had  behind  him  what 
was  wanting  to  all  the  Latin  poets  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  national  impulse  and  the  inspiration  that 
comes  of  it.  Thus  inspired  by  such  an  impulse, 
Buchanan  might  have  inaugurated  a  new  tradition  in 
Scottish  poetry,  and  done  much  to  save  his  country 
from  the  intellectual  sterility  of  the  century  and  a 
half  that  followed  his  death. 

At  the  end  of  two  years  the  death  of  his  uncle 
forced  him  to  return  to  Scotland.  Want  of  means 
and  serious  illness,  he  tells  us,  were  the  occasion 
of  his  return.^  From  his  repeated  illnesses,  which 
appear  in  each  case  to  have  completely  prostrated 
him,  it  would  seem  that  Buchanan  was  naturally  of 
a  weak  constitution,  though  doubtless  hard  fare 
and  excessive  study  in  youth  sowed  the  seeds  of 
the  various  ailments  that  afterwards  afflicted  him. 

^  Buchanan's  own  words  are  very  strong  :  "  Gravi  morbo  correptus 
ac  undique  inopia  circumventus." 


C 


CHAPTER  III. 


MILITARY  EXPEDITION — STUDIES  AT 
ST.  ANDREWS. 

1522-1526. 

On  his  return  to  Scotland  Buchanan  had  to  devote 
almost  a  year  to  the  recovery  of  his  health.  Where 
he  spent  this  time  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
Probably,  however,  it  was  with  his  mother  at  Car- 
dross,  Menteith,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  the  lease 
of  certain  lands  had  been  granted  to  her  and  her 
sons.  By  the  autumn  of  1523  his  health  was  so 
far  recruited  that  he  was  able  to  take  his  share  in 
a  great  expedition  against  England  organised  by 
the  Begent  Albany.^  This  was  the  only  occasion, 
so  far  as  we  know,  in  which  Buchanan  actually  bore 
arms,  yet  it  is  clear  that  he  had  in  him  something 
of  the  stuff  of  which  soldiers  are  made.  In  his  old 
age  he  recalls  that  he  joined  the  expedition  with  the 
desire  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  art  of  war  ; 
and  in  his  History,  written  also  in  advanced  years 
and  broken  health,  he  invariably  speaks  of  battle 
as  one  who  had  known  great  soldiers,  and  who  had 
himself  felt  something  of  the  glow  of  battle.  The 
words  in  which  he  dedicates  his  Jephthes  to  the 

^  Vita  Sua. 

34 


MILITARY  EXPEDITION. 


35 


Marechal  de  Brissac,  with  whom  he  afterwards 
came  to  live  on  terms  of  intimacy,  are  also  a 
curious  comment  on  this  side  of  his  character.  He 
says  in  effect  that  a  great  soldier  must  of  necessity 
have  all  the  gifts  that  make  a  great  writer,  and 
maintains  that  it  is  a  popular  delusion  to  suppose 
that  there  is  any  inherent  antagonism  between  war 
and  letters.^ 

It  will  be  remembered  that  on  the  death  of 
James  iv.  at  Flodden,  his  widow,  the  sister  of 
Henry  viii.,  had  been  appointed  Regent  during  the 
minority  of  her  son.  By  her  marriage  with  the 
Earl  of  Angus,  however,  she  had  forfeited  the  con- 
fidence of  the  Scottish  Estates  ;  and  in  1515  the 
Regency  had  been  transferred  to  the  Duke  of 
Albany,  High  Admiral  of  France,  son  of  the 
brother  of  James  iii.  By  the  appointment  ©f 
Albany,  the  influence  of  France  in  the  affairs  of 
Scotland  became  such  as  to  excite  the  fear  and 
jealousy  of  Henry.  By  force  and  diplomacy  alike, 
therefore,  Henry  did  his  utmost  to  gain  the  ascend- 
ency in  the  government  of  Scotland ;  and  by  way 
of  retaliation,  Albany  had  in  the  autumn  of  1522 
made  an  ineffectual  invasion  of  England. 

Of  the  expedition  in  which  Buchanan  was 
engaged  he  has  himself  given  an  account  in  the 
fourteenth  book  of  his  History  of  Scotland.  In 
1523,  during  the  absence  of  the  Begent  in  France, 
the  troops  of  Henry  viii.  made  one  of  the  merciless 
English  invasions  of  Scotland.  On  the  news  of  this 
invasion  Albany  had  hastened  to  return  to  Scot- 
land, making  sure  he  would  now  have  the  support 

^  "  Neque  enim  inter  rei  militaris  et  literarum  studium  ea  est,  quaiii 
plerique  falso  putant,  discordia." 


36 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  the  Scots  to  a  man  against  England.  A  great 
muster  of  troops  was  held  on  the  Boroughmuir, 
near  Edinburgh,  and  the  Regent  marched  to  the 
Border  with  the  intention  of  avenging  the  disaster 
of  Flodden  and  the  late  unprovoked  invasion.  As 
the  expedition  is  both  interesting  in  itself,  and  is 
a  sufficiently  picturesque  incident  in  the  career  of 
a  scholar,  its  history  may  be  told  in  Buchanan  s 
own  words.  The  account  he  gives  of  Wark  Castle 
is,  according  to  Tytler,  "valuable,  as,  with  little 
variation,  it  presents  an  accurate  picture  of  the 
Scoto-Norman  castles  of  the  period  ".^ 

"  When  the  French  auxiliaries,  whom  the  Regent 
had  brought  with  him,  were  again  fit  for  service, 
he  levied  an  army  of  Scots,  and  with  his  united 
forces  proceeded  to  the  Border  towards  the  end  of 
October,  with  the  intention  of  invading  England. 
He  had  marched  as  far  south  as  Melrose,  and  had 
led  the  greater  part  of  his  army  across  a  wooden 
bridge  which  there  spans  the  Tweed,^  when  the 
Scots,  alleging  the  same  reasons  as  on  the  occasion 
of  the  expedition  to  the  Solway,  refused  to  pass 
the  Border.  Becrossing  the  river,  he  marched  a 
short  distance  down  the  left  bank,  and  taking  up 
his  position  directly  opposite  Wark  Castle,  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  it  by  storm.  A  body  of  cavalry 
despatched  across  the  river  prevented  relief  from 
that  quarter,  and  the  adjoining  country  was  laid 
waste  with  fire  and  sword.     The  castle  consists 

^  Tytler,  History  of  Scotland^  vol.  ii.  chap,  vii. 

2  Professor  Brewer  {Reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  i.  p.  557)  corrects 
Buchanan  for  saying  that  Albany  threw  a  bridge  across  the  Tweed.  But 
Buchanan  makes  no  such  assertion.  He  distinctly  states  that  the  bridge 
already  existed. 


MILITARY  EXPEDITION. 


37 


of  a  tower  of  unusual  strength  surrounded  by  a 
double  wall.  Between  the  two  walls  there  is  a 
court  of  considerable  extent,  where  in  times  of 
war  the  country-people  of  the  neighbourhood  take 
refuge  with  their  property.  The  inner  wall  encloses 
a  much  smaller  area,  and  is  rendered  still  more  for- 
midable by  a  moat  and  the  turrets  that  surmount  it. 
The  outer  court  was  at  once  carried  by  the  French 
auxiliaries  ;  but  the  English  garrison,  setting  fire  to 
the  straw  in  the  barns,  deprived  them  of  their  tem- 
porary advantage.  During  the  next  two  days  a 
constant  cannonade  was  kept  up  against  the  inner 
wall,  and  a  breach  being  at  length  effected,  the 
French  made  a  second  gallant  attempt  to  bear  all 
before  them.  The  keep  itself,  however,  was  still 
unharmed,  and  the  garrison  poured  a  steady  fire  on 
their  assailants.  After  the  loss  of  a  few  of  their 
companions,  the  French  were  again  forced  to  retire 
to  the  main  body,  and  recrossed  the  river.  The 
Regent  now  saw  that  with  the  Scots  in  their  present 
state  of  mind  an  invasion  of  England  was  out  of 
the  question.  Moreover,  he  had  certain  informa- 
tion that  a  large  English  force  (if  we  may  believe 
the  English  historians  themselves),  consisting  of 
40,000  fully  equipped  soldiers,  besides  a  garrison 
of  6000  left  at  Berwick,  was  on  the  march  against 
him.  Accordingly,  on  the  11th  November,  he  re- 
moved his  camp  to  Eccles,  some  six  miles  distant. 
Thence,  in  the  third  watch,  he  made  a  night's 
march  to  Lauder,  in  an  unexpected  snowstorm, 
which  told  heavily  on  man  and  beast.  The  English 
suffered  equally  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
and  were  forced  to  retire  and  disband  their  forces." 


38 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


As  the  result  of  this  freak,  Buchanan  was  bed- 
ridden during  the  rest  of  the  winter. 

Buchanan  had  still  at  least  a  year's  study  to 
complete  before  he  could  gain  his  bachelor's  certi- 
ficate. It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  medieval 
universities,  looking  to  the  Pope  as  their  general 
head,  made  one  great  society,  existing  on  the  same 
conditions,  and  sharing  common  privileges.  Studies 
at  one  university  were  recognised  by  all  the  rest, 
and  degrees  conferred  by  one  conveyed  equal  rights 
in  the  others.  The  multiplication  of  universities 
during  the  fifteenth  century  had  necessitated  a 
certain  modification  of  this  state  of  things.  Thus, 
in  Paris  it  was  made  a  condition  of  licence  that  a 
student  must  either  have  "  determined  "  at  Paris, ' 
or  at  some  university  which  counted  at  least  twelve 
regents.^  It  was  not  likely,  however,  that  studies 
at  a  university  of  such  immense  repute  as  Paris 
should  not  be  recognised  by  any  of  the  universities 
of  Scotland.  In  the  spring  of  1525,  therefore, 
Buchanan  proceeded  to  St.  Andrews  to  complete 
his  first  stage  in  the  curriculum  of  Arts.  He  was 
specially  sent  there,  he  tells  us,  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
John  Major.^  Logic  was  the  part  of  his  course  to 
which  he  had  now  to  devote  himself ;  and,  as  it 
happened,  there  was  no  logician  in  Europe  who  had 
a  greater  name  than  Major. 

In  his  own  generation  John  Major  was  hardly  less 
famous  than  was  Buchanan  himself  in  the  genera- 
tion that  followed.  It  was  Major's  misfortune  that 
he  came  at  the  close  of  an  era,  and  that  he  never 
divined  the  true  direction  where  the  best  interests 
of  the  future  lay.    Born  near  North  Berwick  in 

1  Thurot,  p.  52.  2  y^f^  Sua. 


JOHN  MAJOK. 


39 


1470/  he  had  in  the  course  of  a  life  wholly  devoted 
to  study  made  himself  a  storehouse  of  all  the  learn- 
ing of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  had  studied  at  Oxford, 
and  also  at  Cambridge,  where  he  tells  us  that  "on 
feast-days  he  lay  awake  many  a  night  to  listen  to  the 
melody  of  the  bells  ".^  In  Paris  he  completed  his 
•  course  in  Arts  at  the  College  Ste.  Barbe,  taking  his 
final  degree  in  1494.^  As  his  aim  was  to  become 
doctor  in  theology,  he  entered  the  College  Mon- 
taigu,  which,  under  the  administration  of  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  time  in  Paris,  Jean 
Standonck,  had  become  one  of  the  first  schools  in 
that  faculty.  The  College  Montaigu,  we  have  seen, 
was  the  stronghold  of  scholastic  studies,  and  for  his 
adoption  into  this  college  Major  was  indebted  to  the 
one  man  in  Paris  who  beyond  all  others  was  noted 
for  the  sheer  ferocity  of  his  hatred  of  the  new  learn- 
ing and  the  new  religion — Noel  Beda,  afterwards 
Syndic  of  the  University.^  It  marks  at  once  Major  s 
type  of  mind  and  the  character  of  his  thinking  that 
he  speaks  of  the  College  Montaigu,  which  Erasmus 
held  up  to  the  ridicule  of  Europe,  as  "his  true 
nursing-mother,  ever  to  be  named  by  him  with 
veneration".^  Having  taken  his  doctor's  degree 
in  1505,  he  continued  to  teach  the  scholastic  logic 

^  There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  exact  date  of  Major's  birth. 
As  he  took  the  doctor's  degree  in  theology  in  1505,  and  as  he  could  not 
do  this  before  the  age  of  thirty-five,  this  gives  us  1470  as  the  date  of  his 
birth.  This  degree  conferred  important  privileges,  so  that  it  is  unlikely 
he  would  defer  taking  it.  Buchanan  speaks  of  Major  in  1525  as  being 
in  extrema  senedute.  But  in  the  sixteenth  century,  as  we  have  said 
elsewhere  (Appendix  A),  a  man  at  fifty  was  considered  aged. 

2  Major,  De  Gestis  Scotorum,  lib.  iii.  cap.  i. 

2  As  has  been  already  said,  Major's  name  occurs  in  the  list  of  licen- 
tiates given  in  the  account  of  the  German  Nation  referred  to  above. 
*  Major,  In  secundum  Sententiarum  Commentarius. 
^  Major,  In  primum  Sententiarum  Commentarius. 


40 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


and  theology  till  about  1518/  As  a  teacher  he 
speedily  took  his  place  among  the  first  of  his 
day  in  Paris.  His  scholars  spoke  of  him  in  terms 
which,  with  every  reservation,  prove  him  to 
have  been  a  man  both  of  unusual  power  of  mind 
and  commanding  personal  character.  One  of  his 
pupils,^  himself  a  leading  figure  in  the  scholastic 
world  of  Paris,  speaks  of  him  in  the  following- 
manner  so  characteristic  of  the  period :  "  The  true 
Gorgonian  horse  is  Pegasus,  and  Pegasus  is  that 
incomparable  master  in  arts  and  philosophy,  whom 
I  am  unable  to  praise  according  to  his  merits,  my 
master  John  Major,  who,  by  the  aid  of  his  own 
wings,  flies  higher  than  the  wings  of  the  wind 
could  carry  him,  till  he  surpasses  all  other  spirits  in 
sublimity."^  Besides  teaching,  Major  wrote  volu- 
minously on  all  the  subjects  which  still  had  an 
interest  for  the  upholders  of  the  old  order.  It  was 
during  these  years  in  Paris  also  that  he  wrote  the 
only  book  which  of  all  his  productions  retained  any 
value  or  interest  almost  from  the  date  of  his  own 
death.  This  was  his  combined  History  of  Scotland 
and  England,  written  by  1518,  and  published  in 
Paris  in  1521.  This  History  is  written  in  the  ex- 
traordinary Latin  with  the  perverse  logical  forms 
of  the  schoolmen,  yet  to  the  modern  student  it  has 
an  interest  far  beyond  the  insipid  elegance  of  many 
of  the  humanists  who  came  to  sneer  at  its  author. 
Under  all  its  strange  limitations  of  thought  and 

^  In  1498  the  temporary  exile  of  Standonck  disorganised  the 
College  Montaigu.    Major,  therefore,  while  still  remaining  a  member 
of  that  College,  gave  his  lessons  in  the  College  Navarre.    Launoy,  Begii 
Navarrae  Gymnasii  Historia,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xix. 
Kobert  Cenalis. 

Quoted  by  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  97.  f 


STUDIES  AT  ST.  ANDREWS. 


41 


uncouthness  of  movement,  Major's  History  reveals 
an  individuality  of  character,  a  clearness  and  force 
of  intelligence,  that  fully  explain  to  us  the  extra- 
ordinary impression  he  made  on  his  own  time.  In 
1518  we  find  him  professing  in  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  where  he  remained  probably  till  1523, 
when  he  removed  to  St.  Andrews  to  act  as  teacher 
of  logic  and  philosophy. 

In  1525,  Buchanan,  with  his  brother  Patrick, 
matriculated  at  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,^  and 
was  enrolled  as  a  member  of  what  was  then  known 
as  the  Paedagogium,  where  Major  was  acting  as 
one  of  the  regents  in  Arts.  This  Institution 
had  been  the  nucleus  of  the  University  of  St. 
Andrews.^  Till  1430,  twenty  years  after  its  founda- 
tion, the  University  was  still  unprovided  with  any 
college  or  paedagogium,  such  as  by  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  had  revolutionised  the 
University  of  Paris.  During  those  years  schools 
were  opened  simply  where  convenient  premises  could 
be  obtained — the  result  being,  as  in  the  case  of 
Paris  itself,  increasing  confusion  and  inefficiency.^ 
In  1430  Wardlaw,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  granted 
to  the  Faculty  of  Arts  a  separate  tenement  where 
its  studies  might  be  conducted.^  From  the  terms 
of  the  grant  it  is  difficult  to  understand  whether 
this  Paedogogium  was  founded  on  the  model  of  those 

^  Buchanan  is  among  those  who  paid  sixpence  at  matriculation. 
Some  paid  eightpence,  and  others  are  marked  pauper.  By  this  last 
designation  is  meant  those  who  were  unable  to  pay  the  usual  fee. 

^  The  name  Faedagogium,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
applied  till  after  Bishop  Wardlaw's  grant.  See  Maitland  Anderson,  The 
University  of  St.  Andrews,  a  Historical  Sketch,  p.  7. 

^  Principal  Lee,  Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
vol.  i.  p.  16  note. 

*  Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  Appendix,  p.  229. 


42 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


in  Paris,  or  consisted  simply  of  class-rooms  set  apart 
for  the  different  regents.^  The  Paedagogium  does 
not  seem  to  have  prospered,  as  in  1512  it  is  de- 
scribed as  nearly  ruined  through  the  defect  of  its 
constitution  and  the  want  of  learned  men".^  In 
that  year  Archbishop  Stewart,  the  natural  son  of 
James  i  v.,  engaged  himself  to  endow  the  Paedagogium 
and  erect  it  into  a  college  ;  but  his  death  at  Flodden 
the  following  year  prevented  his  carrying  his  purpose 
into  effect.^  About  the  date  when  Buchanan  came 
to  St.  Andrews  the  number  of  all  the  supposts*  of 
the  University  averaged  from  150  to  200,  and  in  the 
year  of  his  own  matriculation  the  number  of  fresh 
students  was  76.  The  fame  of  Major  had  doubtless 
drawn  students  to  St.  Andrews,  who,  like  Buchanan 
himself,  might  have  gone  more  conveniently  else- 
where. But  though  Buchanan  then  saw  St. 
Andrews  at  its  best,  and  with  the  lustre  of  a  famous 
teacher  in  its  schools,  it  must  have  seemed  a  poor 
enough  place  after  the  magnificent  endowments  of 
Paris.  All  that  John  Major  in  his  notice  of  the 
Scottish  Universities  has  to  say  of  St.  Andrews,  the 
most  famous  of  the  three,  is  contained  in  a  single 
sentence,  written,  however,  before  he  himself  had 
come  there.  He  speaks  of  it  as  a  university 
''towards  which  no  one  has  as  yet  dealt  with  any 
liberality,  except  James  Kennedy,  who  founded  one 
small  but  rich  and  handsome  college 

From  the  extent  of  the  buildings  the  'paedagogium  probably  con- 
sisted only  of  class-rooms.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  such  an 
institution  did  not  correspond  to  the  paedagogium  of  Paris. — Thurot, 
p.  95  ;  Jourdain,  Exmirsions  Historique,  etc.,  p.  262.  I  have  to  thank 
Professor  Seth  for  his  kind  assistance  on  various  points  connected  with 
St.  Andrews. 

2  Lyon,  Appendix,  p.  254.  Ibid. 
^  The  supposts  were  all  those  in  any  way  connected  with  the  univer- 
sity. 5  ]\/iajor,  De  Gestis  Scotorum,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi. 


STUDIES  AT  ST.  ANDREWS. 


43 


The  teaching  of  Major  was  Httle  to  the  mind 
of  Buchanan.  More  than  half  a  century  after- 
wards he  spoke  of  his  old  master  as  "teaching  the 
art  of  sophistry  rather  than  dialectics  When 
Buchanan  wrote  thus,  at  the  very  close  of  his  life,  it 
was  doubtless  with  a  vivid  consciousness  of  years  of 
bitter  conflict  with  the  system  which  Major  had 
incarnated  for  him  in  his  youth.  At  the  same  time, 
we  can  have  no  doubt  that  Buchanan  found  such 
teaching  as  Majors  as  unprofitable  as  Erasmus  had 
found  it  at  the  College  Montaigu.  Buchanan's  own 
countryman,  Florence  Wilson,  a  humanist  like  him- 
self, speaks  in  the  same  tones  of  disgust  at  his  early 
training  in  the  dialectics  of  the  schoolmen.^  Even 
when  his  reputation  was  at  its  height,  Major  was 
already  the  mark  for  the  wit  of  the  men  of  the 
new  order.  Melanchthon  had  selected  him  as  a 
special  object  of  his  attack  in  his  reply  to  the  cen- 
sure of  the  Sorbonne  on  the  opinions  of  Luther. 
"  I  have  seen  John  Major's  Commentaries  on  Peter 
Lombard,"  he  says.  "  He  is  now,  I  am  told,  the 
prince  of  the  Paris  divines.  Good  heavens  !  What 
wagon-loads  of  trifling  !  What  pages  he  fills  with 
disputes  whether  there  can  be  any  horsemanship 
without  a  horse,  whether  the  sea  was  salt  when  God 
made  it.  If  he  is  a  specimen  of  the  Parisian,  no 
wonder  they  have  so  little  stomach  for  Luther."  A 
few  years  later  Major  was  pilloried  for  all  time  by 
one  greater  than  Melanchthon — Rabelais  himself. 
Among   the   books  in   the  wonderful  library  at 

1  Vita  Sua. 

2  "  Primi  aetatis  gradus  mihi  consumpti  sunt  in  illorum  captiunculis 
discendis  ;  cujus  utinam  temporis  bona  pars  utriusque  linguae  studiis 
impensa  fuisset." — De  Animi  Tranquillitate,  p.  250  (edit.  Edin.  1751).  It 
is  uncertain  where  Florence  Wilson  received  his  university  training. 


44 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


St.  Victor's  in  Paris,  Pantagruel  found  one  entitled 
The  Art  of  making  Puddings,  by  John  Major.^ 

It  has  been  suggested  that  Knox  (who  was  a 
student  under  Major  at  Glasgow)  and  Buchanan 
owed  at  least  their  liberal  opinions  in  politics  to 
Major.  It  is  certainly  true  that  Major  held  pre- 
cisely the  same  views  as  his  two  pupils  regarding 
the  claims  of  the  people  and  the  rights  of  kings. 
But,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  point  out  in  deal- 
ing Avith  Buchanan's  own  political  opinions,  these 
views  must  have  come  to  Knox  and  Buchanan  from 
other  sources  than  Major.  Major  himself,  as  we 
shall  see,  was  even  in  the  liberality  of  his  political 
opinions  still  only  the  representative  of  the  best 
schoolmen.^ 

Of  late  years  it  has  been  conclusively  shown  that 
what  we  know  as  scholasticism  was  in  its  own  time 
and  place  a  perfectly  rational  system,  yielding  free 
and  healthy  exercise  to  the  best  minds  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  If  the  world  outgrew  it,  and  it  degenerated 
of  itself  into  sheer  futility,  it  only  followed  the 
course  of  all  great  movements  that  at  different 
periods  have  absorbed  the  minds  and  consciousness 
of  men.  Humanism  itself  was  not  a  century  old 
before  its  childish  absurdities  wrought  something 
like  disgust  in  men  of  saner  minds.  As  Erasmus 
denounced  the  trifling  of  the  later  schoolmen,  so  he 
held  up  to  equal  ridicule  the  Neo-Pagan  develop- 
ments of  humanism  and  the  superstitious  worship 

^  Livre  ii.  chap.  vii.  The  point  of  Rabelais' jest  is  not  quite  evident. 
Urquhart's  characteristic  note  is  hardly  satisfactory. 

Crevier  speaks  of  Major  as  "  a  doctor  famous  for  his  attachment  to 
the  principles  of  the  University  with  regard  to  the  power  of  the  Pope  ". 
— Histoire  de  V  UniversiU  de  Paris,  vol.  v.  p.  82.  JNIajor  was  with  certain 
of  the  most  eminent  schoolmen  in  these  opmions  also. 


STUDIES  AT  ST.  ANDREWS. 


45 


paid  to  Cicero  by  the  stylists  of  Italy.  In  the 
pedantries  of  modern  German  erudition  we  have 
the  same  evidence  of  an  exhausted  movement  as  we 
find  in  scholasticism  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century.^  The  attitude  of  the  modern  man  of 
science  towards  classical  studies  has  its  exact  parallel 
in  the  attitude  of  the  humanist  of  the  Kenaissance 
towards  the  intellectual  interests  of  the  schoolmen. 

Although  the  humanists  were  wrong  in  con- 
founding the  later  follies  of  scholasticism  with  the 
true  intellectual  movement  of  the  Middle  Ages,  they 
had  ample  reason  for  their  contempt  of  what  passed 
for  logic  and  philosophy  in  the  later  years  of  the 
fifteenth  century  and  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth. 
It  was  in  the  name  of  right  reason  that  they  ridi- 
culed the  barbarous  terminology,  the  triviality  of 
the  matter  taught,  and  the  interminable  hair- 
splittings in  its  discussion.  At  the  same  time,  it 
is  worthy  of  note  that  the  humanists  were  not  all 
agreed  as  to  the  true  attitude  that  should  be  taken 
up  towards  the  studies  of  the  past  age.  Many  of 
them  maintained  that  to  break  completely  the  con- 
tinuity of  public  instruction  would  be  fatal  to  the 
best  interests  of  learning  and  religion.^  There  is 
certainly  excellent  ground  for  maintaining  that  the 
scholars  of  the  sixteenth  century  would  have  ap- 
proached classical  literature  in  a  more  intelligent 
spirit  had  they  possessed  something  more  of  thp 
equipment  of  the  best  schoolmen. 

1  Mr.  Hill  Burton  relates  that  Professor  Pillans  was  indignant  to 
find  that  Porson  had  never  read  the  Latin  poetry  of  Buchanan.  Porson 
was  persuaded  to  look  at  it,  but  flung  the  book  from  hira  in  disgust  on 
discovering  a  false  quantity. — Scot  Abroad,  vol.  ii.  Major  thus  had  his 
revenge  for  Buchanan's  slighting  mention  of  himself. 

2  Schmidt,  La  Vie  et  Us  Travaux  de  Jean  Sturm,  p.  294. 


46  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

In  October  1525  Buchanan  graduated  as  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  This  was  the  same  year  as  that  in  which 
he  had  matriculated,  so  that  his  studies  in  Paris 
must  have  been  recognised  by  the  Faculty  of  St 
Andrews.  His  name  appears  in  the  second  class  of 
graduates.  As  logic  was  the  main  subject  of  exami- 
nation, we  may  regard  this  as  another  proof  of  his 
distaste  for  the  prelections  of  Major.  The  word 
pauper  stands  opposite  his  name,  as  it  does  against 
the  names  of  the  majority  of  his  fellow-graduates. 
The  meaning  of  this  term  is  not  what  his  biographers 
have  hitherto  assigned  to  it — an  exhibitioner.  All 
that  it  implies  is  that  Buchanan,  on  a  satisfactory 
plea  of  poverty,  was  excused  the  payment  of  the 
customary  fee  on  "  determining  "  for  his  Bachelor's 
certificate  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  this  was  a  common 
practice  in  the  University  of  Paris. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


PARIS- — THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE. 

In  1525  John  Major  returned  to  Paris,  and  the 
next  summer  Buchanan  followed  him.^  As  he  had 
now  definitely  made  choice  of  the  life  of  a  scholar, 
his  course  for  the  next  few  years  was  clearly  marked 
out  for  him.  He  had  first  to  take  the  higher  degree 
in  Arts,  qualifying  him  to  "  regent "  or  teach  in  con- 
nection with  the  University ;  and  having  thus  assured 
a  means  of  livelihood,  he  could  proceed  with  his 
studies  in  any  of  the  three  higher  faculties.  Such, 
at  least,  was  almost  universally  the  career  of  students 
who  looked  with  an  eye  of  prudence  to  some  com- 
fortable settlement  as  they  approached  middle  life. 
Maxims  of  prudence,  however,  never  weighed  much 
with  Buchanan  at  any  period  of  his  life ;  and  though 
when  he  left  Scotland  on  this  second  occasion  he  had 
doubtless  every  intention  of  following  the  beaten 
track,  he  had  not  been  long  in  Paris  before  it  was 
brought  home  to  him  that  such  a  course  had  for  him 
become  impossible. 

His  first  two  years  in  Paris  were  passed  mainly 
in  the  Scots  College.  It  is  matter  for  the  keenest 
regret  that  at  the  French  Revolution  all  the  docu- 
ments of  this  College  were  either  dispersed  or 
destroyed.    The  College  was  founded  in  1326  by 

^  Vita  Sua. 

47 


48 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  then  Bishop  of  Moray,  who  bought  up  the  lands 
of  Grisy,  a  village  near  Paris,  for  its  endowment. 
It  would  appear  that  it  was  originally  intended 
only  for  the  benefit  of  students  from  his  own  diocese.^ 
Soon,  however,  it  was  thrown  open  to  the  whole  of 
Scotland,  and  it  was  at  this  College  and  that  of 
Montaigu  that  Scotsmen  were  chiefly  to  be  found 
during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  It 
has  been  inferred  from  an  expression  in  Buchanan's 
Autobiography  that  he  owed  to  Major  ^  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Scots  College,  and  on  this  somewhat 
doubtful  ground  he  has  been  accused  of  ingratitude 
for  his  contemptuous  reference  to  his  ancient  master. 
A  nomination  was,  of  course,  required  to  the  bur- 
saries in  a  college,  and  it  may  be  that  Buchanan 
owed  this  service  to  Major.  We  have  seen,  how- 
ever, that  Buchanan  was  no  very  distinguished 
member  of  Major's  class  at  St.  Andrews;  and  if 
Buchanan  the  youth  in  any  degree  resembled 
Buchanan  the  man,  we  may  feel  certain  that  he 
made  little  attempt  to  conceal  his  scorn  for  the 
teaching  of  the  old  schoolman.  It  could  hardly 
have  been  as  a  favourite  pupil,  therefore,  that 
Buchanan  deserved  such  a  kindness  at  the  hands  of 
Major.  Moreover,  if  Buchanan  followed  Major  to 
Paris,  it  was  not  till  the  summer  after  the  October 
in  which  he  graduated  at  St.  Andrews.  In  view  of 
all  this,  therefore,  the  charge  of  ingratitude  against 
Buchanan  may  as  well  be  abandoned  till  we  have 
clear  proof  of  his  actual  obligation. 

^  Mackenzie,  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers.  Mackenzie  states  that 
he  had  his  information  regarding  the  College  direct  from  the  University 
of  Paris. 

2  Buchanan's  words  are  :  "  hunc  [that  is,  Major]  in  Galliam  aestate 
proxima  sequutus." 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE.  49 


These  first  two  years  in  Paris,  he  tells  us,  were 
passed  in  "  hard  struggle  with  untoward  fortune  ".^ 
As  a  bursar  he  received  his  board  and  education 
free.  The  Scots  College  being  one  of  the  smaller 
Paris  colleges,  its  bursars  would  have  to  attend 
classes  elsewhere — probably  in  Buchanan's  day  in 
one  of  the  larger  colleges,  where  externes  or  day- 
scholars  were  received.  But  while  he  was  in  this 
manner,  as  it  would  seem,  completely  provided  for, 
all  that  we  know  of  these  Paris  colleges  makes  clear 
to  us  that  Buchanan's  experience  during  these  two 
years  was  but  the  common  experience  of  his  fellow- 
bursars.  The  food  and  accommodation,  even  of  the 
best-endowed  colleges,  were  of  the  most  wretched 
description ;  in  the  case  of  the  poorer  colleges  the 
fare  was  not  only  unwholesome  but  scanty.  The 
lodging  was  that  of  the  worst  slums  in  our  large 
cities.  However  generous  may  have  been  the 
original  endowments  of  a  college,  in  most  cases 
poverty  sooner  or  later  overtook  it.  The  deteriora- 
tion in  the  value  of  money  seriously  affected  the 
weekly  allowance  of  the  poor  bursar.^  The  income 
due  from  the  property  that  formed  the  endowment  of 
a  college  was  seldom  regularly  or  fully  forthcoming. 
Moreover,  as  the  bursars  and  the  head  of  the  college 
were  merely  temporary  residents,  they  had  little 
interest  in  looking  to  its  permanent  efficiency.^  The 
result  of  all  this  was  that,  especially  in  the  case  of 
the  minor  colleges,  the  life  of  the  bursar  was  in 
simple  truth  exactly  such  as  Buchanan  describes 
his  own  to  have  been. 

^  "  Biennium  fere  cum  iniquitate  fortunae  colluctatus." 
^  A  sum  of  money  (that  fixed  by  his  foundation)  was  given  every 
week  to  the  bursar  to  meet  his  expenses. 
3  Thurot,  p.  129. 

D 


50 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


In  March  1528  (at  the  earliest  date  possible, 
therefore),  Buchanan  graduated  master  of  arts,  and 
thus  became  qualified  to  act  as  regent.  The  next 
year  we  find  him  on  the  teaching-staff  of  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  colleges  in  Paris — that  of  Ste. 
Barbe.^  As  Buchanan  acted  as  regent  in  this  col- 
lege for  the  next  three  years,  and  as,  according  to 
its  latest  historian,  he  exerted  an  influence  on  its 
teaching  which  aflected  the  entire  university,  a 
brief  account  of  its  history  and  internal  arrange- 
ment cannot  be  considered  irrelevant.^ 

Two  brothers,  Geoflroi  and  Jean  Lenormant,  of 
the  College  de  Navarre,  were  in  their  own  day 
among  the  most  famous  professors  in  the  schools  of 
Paris.  Their  fame  attracted  to  Navarre  a  large 
number  of  outsiders,  for  whom  they  had  to  provide 
accotnmodation  in  five  or  six  adjoining  houses. 
The  bursars  of  the  college,  however,  of  whom  a  con- 
siderable number  were  priests  and  men  in  mature 
age,  at  length  protested  against  the  disturbance  of 
their  privacy  by  such  numbers  of  unruly  scholars 
coming  and  going  at  all  hours.  They  carried  their 
point,  and  the  two  brothers  left  the  college.  Con- 
fident in  their  popularity,  the  elder,  Geoflroi,  took  a 
bold  step,  and  with  no  funds  for  the  endowments 
usual  in  such  cases,  he  started  the  College  of  Sainte- 
Barbe  in  1460.  The  college  received  its  name 
from  Saint  Barbara,  who  was  regarded  as  a  kind  of 

^  Chalmers  {Life  of  Rucldiman,  p.  313,  note)  gives  two  entries  rela- 
tive to  Buchanan  from  the  registers  of  the  Scots  College,  which  were 
communicated  to  him  before  the  French  Revolution.  The  one  entry 
states  that  Buchanan  was  incorporated  as  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  that 
college  in  October  1527  ;  the  other  that  he  graduated  Master  of  Arts  in 
March  1528.  It  is  possible  that  Buchanan  remained  in  the  Scots 
College  till  his  appointment  as  regent  in  Ste.  Barbe. 

2  For  what  follows  regarding  Ste.  Barbe,  I  am  indebted  to  Quicherat's 
Histoire  de  Sainte-Barbe  (Paris,  1860). 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE.  51 


Christian  Minerva  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  name 
may  also  have  been  partly  suggested  by  the  logical 
term  harbara — a  play  of  fancy,  singularly  charac- 
teristic of  the  later  times  of  the  schoolmen.^  From 
the  very  outset,  the  College  had  a  run  of  good 
fortune.  A  succession  of  distinguished  teachers 
drew  to  it  a  greater  crowd  than  was  to  be  found 
in  any  other  college  except  Montaigu,  which,  under 
Jean  Standonck,  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century  proved  for  a  time  its  formidable  rival.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Francis  i.  (1515),  it 
was  said  of  Ste.  Barbe  that  the  Parliament  was 
made  up  of  its  pupils,  that  the  faculties  of  theology 
and  medicine  were  mostly  recruited  from  its  ranks, 
and  that  so  many  heroes  issued  from  its  bosom  that 
it  might  be  fitly  compared  to  the  wooden  horse 
of  Troy. 

Shortly  before  Buchanan  entered  Ste.  Barbe,  it 
had  passed  an  important  turning-point  in  its  his- 
tory. From  the  date  of  its  foundation,  students 
from  Spain  had  made  an  important  contingent  of 
its  scholars;  but  in  1526,  some  three  years  before 
Buchanan  became  regent,  the  College  was  peopled 
by  a  colony  of  Portuguese.  During  the  reigns  of 
John  II.,  Emmanuel,  and  John  iii.,  Portugal  had 
made  extensive  foreign  acquisitions,  and,  as  a 
daughter  of  the  Church,  she  was  bound  to  do  what 
she  could  to  extend  the  true  faith  wherever  she 
planted  her  flag.  Large  numbers  of  missionaries 
were  therefore  required,  and  for  the  most  part  these 
were  sent  to  Paris,  still  the  best  school  of  sound 
Catholic  theology,  for  their  training.  At  this  time 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  about  the  imi- 

^  Cf.  the  Bohardo  Tower  at  Oxford. 


52 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


versity  was  Jacques  de  Gouvea/  a  Portuguese,  the 
first  of  this  name  of  a  number  of  scholars,  who 
played  a  pre-eminent  part  in  the  development  of 
the  new  studies.  King  Emmanuel  was  desirous 
of  securing  this  distinguished  Portuguese  for  the 
service  of  his  own  country.  But  Gouvea  had  a 
more  notable  scheme  in  his  head  for  the  honour 
and  interest  of  Portugal.  This  was  no  less  than 
the  purchase  of  Ste.  Barbe  for  the  Portuguese  king, 
and  the  settlement  in  that  college  of  all  the  Portu- 
guese who  studied  in  Paris.  The  proprietor  of 
Ste.  Barbe,  however,  a  certain  Bobert  Dugast,  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  again,  would  not  listen  to  the 
proposal  of  purchase,  and  Gouvea  had  to  content 
himself  with  renting  the  College  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  Portugal.  The  Portuguese  possession  was 
completed  by  the  establishment  of  fifty  bursaries 
for  the  benefit  of  Gouvda's  countrymen. 

But  although  Ste.  Barbe  thus  became  so  dis- 
tinctively a  Portuguese  college,  it  must  not  be 
thought  that  Portuguese  formed  even  a  large  pro- 
portion of  its  scholars.  To  make  this  clear,  some 
account  of  the  organisation  of  the  medieval  College 
of  Paris  is  necessary.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
the  university  was  already  old  before  colleges  grew 
up  in  any  number.  Not,  indeed,  till  the  fourteenth 
century  did  they  become  so  numerous  as  to  be  a 
distinctive  feature  of  its  life.  We  have  no  certain 
knowledge  of  the  numbers  of  students  who  at  dif- 
ferent periods  attended  the  University  of  Paris  ; 
but  how  great  they  must  have  been  we  may  gather 
from  the  fact  that  in  1546,  when  Paris  no  longer 

^  I  give  the  French  form  of  his  name,  as  that  by  which  he  is  best 
known. 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE.  53 


held  its  ancient  place  among  the  schools  of  Europe, 
a  Venetian  ambassador  reckoned  that  the  attend- 
ance must  have  been  from  sixteen  to  twenty  thou- 
sand.-^ It  was  soon  found  that  colleges  met  the 
wants  of  students  and  teachers  alike,  that  they 
made  discipline  more  possible,  and  that  they  added 
vastly  to  the  comforts  of  university  life.  The  num- 
ber of  colleges,  accordingly,  grew  rapidly,  and  by  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  century  there  were  no  fewer 
than  forty.  All  these  colleges  were  not,  of  course, 
equally  equipped.  In  many  of  them  the  students 
simply  boarded,  going  elsewhere  for  instruction. 
In  others  only  a  part  of  the  course  requisite  for 
degrees  in  arts  was  supplied.  A  few  only,  known 
as  grands  colleges,  or  colleges  de  plein  exercice,  gave 
instruction  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  philosophy  ; 
and  of  these  Ste.  Barbe  was  one.  In  describing 
Ste.  Barbe,  therefore,  we  are  describing  the  fully 
developed  type  of  the  mediaeval  College  of  Paris. 

In  most  of  the  colleges  (though,  as  we  have 
seen,  not  in  the  case  of  Ste.  Barbe),  a  band  of 
bursars  formed  the  nucleus.  In  addition  to  these 
bursars  there  were  other  students  (convicteurs  or 
portionistes),  boarding  with  the  principal,  who  re- 
ceived from  their  parents  a  stipulated  sum  for  their 
board  and  education.  The  regents,  also,  had  the 
privilege  of  receiving  boarders  (cameristes)  in  rooms 
adjoining  their  own,  and  specially  provided  for  the 
purpose.  In  this  relation  the  regents  were  known 
as  precepteurs  particuliers  or  pSdagogues.  But  the 
bulk  of  the  students  in  the  grands  colleges  consisted 

^  Jourdain,  Excursions  Historiques,  etc.,  p.  261.  The  statement  is 
vague  enough  ;  but  it  at  least  suggests  how  great  the  number  of  students 
must  really  have  been.  Luther  states  that  the  number  of  students  at 
Paris  was  about  20,000.    Alfred  Franklin,  La  Sorhonne,  p.  125. 


54  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

of  students  who  frequented  them  only  to  receive 
instruction.  These  students  {martinets)  had  no 
relations  with  the  principal,  and  made  their  ar- 
rangements solely  with  the  regents  whose  classes  they 
might  wish  to  attend.  It  was  these  martinets,  a  some- 
what irresponsible  body,  who  made  the  most  unruly 
element  in  the  student  hfe  of  Paris.  A  curious 
section  of  these  martinets  were  the  galoches,  so 
called  from  the  galoshes  which  they  wore  in  winter. 
These  galoches,  who  have  still  their  representatives 
in  the  Paris  of  to-day,  were  men  advanced  in  life 
who  sat  through  the  classes  from  year  to  year  with 
no  other  intention  than  that  of  passing  an  idle  hour. 
Still  another  class  of  students — a  peculiar  feature 
of  medieval  scholastic  life — invariably  made  part 
of  the  membership  of  a  college.  These  were  the 
servitors,  mostly  young  men  of  the  humblest  rank, 
who  did  the  menial  work  of  the  house,  receiving 
in  return  the  privilege  of  attending  whatever  classes 
they  wished. 

This  large  body  of  students  was  graduated,  in 
the  case  of  Ste.  Barbe,  into  fourteen  classes,  each 
class  being  under  the  direction  of  its  own  regent. 
The  regents  themselves  were  mostly  young  men 
between  twenty  and  thirty  years  of  age,  on  the  way 
to  become  licentiates  in  the  higher  faculties.  Their 
engagement  was  only  from  year  to  year,  and  in 
return  for  their  services  the  principal  guaranteed 
them  food  and  lodging  in  the  college.  Pegents  of 
philosophy  had  a  claim  to  benefices  in  the  Church 
after  five  years'  teaching;  but  this  privilege  was 
not  granted  to  regents  of  grammar  and  rhetoric  till 
1534.^   From  their  pupils  all  the  regents  received 

1  Crevier,  v.  286. 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE. 


55 


certain  fees  agreed  upon,  which  were  paid  twice  in 
the  year.  As  the  natural  result  of  this  arrange- 
ment, the  regents  were  on  much  more  friendly 
terms  with  their  pupils  than  with  the  principal. 
In  cases  of  insubordination  they  were  as  often  as 
not  the  aiders  and  abettors  of  their  pupils.  How 
the  various  elements  in  these  colleges  held  together 
under  a  chief  whose  powers  were  so  inadequate 
may  well  excite  our  wonder.  It  is  to  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  privileges  even  of  under- 
graduates were  so  great  that  few  cared  to  go  to 
such  extremes  in  their  defiance  of  authority  as  to 
run  the  risk  of  losing  them.  Large  numbers  of 
persons,  indeed,  actually  enrolled  themselves  as 
students  for  the  sole  purpose  of  obtaining  these 
privileges ;  and  in  litigation  it  was  always  a  point 
with  the  parties  to  have  a  student's  interests  in- 
volved in  the  case. 

Of  the  hard  fare,  the  coarseness,  and  even  squalor 
of  the  life  in  these  colleges  we  have  ample  testimony 
from  many  sources.  Erasmus,  Rabelais,  and  Mon- 
taigne have  alike  spoken  in  the  strongest  terms  of 
the  wretched  conditions  under  which  boys  were 
reared  and  educated.  In  the  school-room  the  master 
alone  was  seated.-^  The  pupils  lay  on  straw  littered 
on  the  floor,  and  as  their  dress  consisted  of  a  gown 
descending  to  their  feet,  we  may  imagine  what 
appearance  they  must  have  presented  in  the  matter 
of  personal  cleanhness,  and  we  can  also  understand 
the  necessity  of  one  of  the  rules  of  the  College  that 

1  "  About  1366  and  about  1452,"  says  Thurot,  "  benches  for  scholars 
began  to  come  into  use  ;  but  the  cardinals  Ste.-Cecile  and  d'Estouteville 
put  down  this  luxury  as  likely  to  have  evil  results,  and  insisted  that*  the 
scholars  should  be  made  to  sit  on  the  ground  as  formerly,  so  that  they 
might  have  no  temptation  to  undue  presumption." — P.  69. 


56 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


"  no  student  was  to  carry  his  hand  to  his  bonnet  in 
time  of  meals."  The  spirit  of  the  time  showed  itself 
further  in  the  brutal  corporal  punishments  inflicted 
on  the  most  trivial  occasion.  According  to  Mon- 
taigne— and  his  words  are  of  universal  apphcation 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking — schools  were 
the  veritable  prisons  of  captive  youth,  and  when 
you  approached  one  of  them  you  heard  nothing 
but  "  cris  d'enfants  suppliciez  et  de  maistres  en- 
yvrez  en  leur  cholere 

In  one  of  his  earliest  poems,  which  has  not 
merely  a  biographical  interest,  but  is  a  document 
of  recognised  value  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  the  university,  Buchanan  has  himself  given  us  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  routine  of  a  day's  duties  in  the 
college.^  It  was  written  at  the  close  of  his  connec- 
tion with  Ste.  Barbe,  and  at  a  moment  apparently 
when  he  thought  a  brighter  future  was  before  him. 
The  poem  is  entitled  "  Of  the  wretched  Condition  of 
the  Teachers  of  Humane  Letters  in  Paris  It  is, 
therefore,  the  record  of  Buchanan  s  daily  duties  for 
the  space  of  three  years.  After  some  introductory 
lines  in  which  he  bitterly  contrasts  the  unprofitable 
drudgery  of  the  scholar  and  teacher  with  all  other 
pursuits,  he  tells  how  the  unhappy  regent  has  sat 
far  into  the  night  over  mouldy  manuscripts,  and 
has  at  length,  exhausted  in  mind  and  body,  thrown 
himself  on  his  bed  to  snatch  a  few  hours'  sleep. 

No  sooner,"  he  proceeds,  has  he  stretched  his 
limbs  than  the  watchman  announces  that  it  is 
already  the  fourth  hour.  The  din  of  the  shrill 
alarm  chases  away  his  dreams,  and  reminds  him 
that  his  rest  is  at  an  end.    Hardly  are  things  again 

^  EssaiSf  livre  i.  chap.  xxv.  2  j^i^g^  i. 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE.  57 

quiet,  when  five  o'clock  sounds,  and  the  porter 
rings  his  bell,  calUng  the  scholars  to  their  tasks. 
Then  in  all  the  majesty  of  cap  and  gown  forth 
issues  the  master,  the  terror  of  his  charge,  in  his 
right  hand  the  scourge,  in  his  left  perchance  the 
works  of  the  great  Virgil.  He  seats  himself,  and 
shouts  his  orders  for  silence  till  he  is  red  in  the 
face.  And  now  he  brings  forth  the  harvest  of  his 
toil.  He  smooths  away  difficulties,  he  corrects, 
he  expunges,  he  changes  the  text,  he  brings  to 
light  the  spoils  he  has  won  by  ceaseless  study. 
Meanwhile,  his  scholars  are  some  of  them  sound 
asleep,  others  thinking  of  everything  but  their 
Virgil.  One  is  absent,  but  has  bribed  his  neigh- 
bour to  answer  to  his  name  at  roll-call.  Another 
has  lost  his  stockings,  another  cannot  keep  his 
eye  off  a  large  hole  in  his  shoe.  One  shams 
illness,  another  is  writing  letters  to  his  parents. 
Hence  the  rod  is  never  idle,  sobs  never  cease, 
cheeks  are  never  dry.  Then  the  duties  of  religion 
make  their  call  on  us,  then  lessons  once  more,  and 
once  more  the  rod.  Hardly  an  hour  is  spared  for 
our  meal.  No  sooner  is  it  over  than  lessons  again, 
and  then  a  hasty  supper.  Supper  past,  we  con- 
tinue our  labours  into  the  night,  as  if  the  day's 
tasks,  forsooth,  had  not  been  sufficient.  Why 
should  I  speak  of  our  thousand  humiliations? 
Here,  for  example,  come  the  swarms  of  loafers 
(err ones)  ^  from  the  city,  till  the  street  echoes 
with  the  noise  of  their  pattens.  In  they  scramble 
to  listen  as  intelligently  as  so  many  asses.  They 
grumble  that  no  placards  announcing  the  course 
of  lessons  have  been  stuck  on  the  street  corners ; 
^  These  were  the  galoches  above  mentioned. 


68  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


they  are  indignant  that  the  doctrinal  of  Alexander  ^ 
is  scornfully  ignored  by  the  master,  and  off  they 
run  to  Montaigu,  or  some  other  school  more  to  their 
taste.  Parents  also  grumble  that  the  days  pass  by, 
that  their  sons  learn  nothing,  and  meanwhile  the 
fees  must  be  paid." 

Under  such  conditions  it  may  seem  wonderful 
that  teachers  and  pupils  should  have  hacj  any 
vitality  left  for  mischief  or  enjoyment.  That  they 
had  leisure  and  spirit  for  both,  the  annals  of  the 
University  amply  prove  ;  and  the  picture  of  this  old 
student  life  can  hardly  be  complete  without  some 
illustration  of  this  other  aspect  which  is  certainly 
to  the  full  as  characteristic  as  the  other.  As  a 
specimen  of  its  holidaying  after  Buchanan's  own 
account  of  its  drudgeries  we  take  the  following  from 
one  of  the  historians  of  the  University  : — The  feast 
of  Lendit,"  ^  says  he,  was  a  day  of  feasting  and 
rejoicing  for  scholars  and  regents.  This  was  the 
period  when  their  honorarium  was  paid  by  the 
scholars,  who  having  put  their  present  in  a  purse  or 
in  a  lemon  (citron)  carried  it  in  pomp  to  the  sounds 
of  pipe  and  tabour.  The  same  day  a  grand  caval- 
cade was  formed  to  accompany  the  rector  to  St. 
Denis.  The  supposts  of  the  University,  masters 
and  pupils  in  great  number,  assembled  and  ranged 
themselves  round  their  chief  in  the  Place  de  Sainte 
Genevieve,  and  thence  all  on  horseback,  marching 
two  abreast,  with  ensigns  flying  and  tabours  beat- 
ing, they  traversed  the  entire  length  of  the  town 
until  they  arrived  all  in  the  same  order  at  St.  Denis, 

^  A  grammarian  of  the  Middle  Ages,  for  whom  Buchanan,  with  the 
rest  of  the  humanists,  had  a  supreme  contempt.    Cf.  p.  64. 
2  A  fair  held  at  St.  Denis  during  June  and  July. 


THE  SCOTS  COLLEGE  AND  SAINTE-BARBE.  59 


the  term  of  their  journey.  The  excesses  and  scandals 
which  this  ceremony  occasioned  led  to  the  desire  on 
the  part  of  most  well-disposed  people  that  this 
custom  should  be  abolished.  But,"  adds  he,  "  it  is 
not  easy  to  suppress  customs  which  favour  licence."^ 
As  one  proof  among  a  thousand  of  the  readiness 
for  all  manner  of  mischief  on  the  part  of  the  regents 
and  their  scholars,  we  need  go  no  further  than  the 
page  from  which  the  foregoing  extract  is  taken.  The 
passage  also  forcibly  illustrates  what  has  been  said 
above  regarding  the  good  understanding  between 
regents  and  students.  In  1539,"  ^  the  same  writer 
continues,  the  reform  desired  was  as  far  off  as 
ever.  The  old  licence  was  still  maintained  in  full 
vigour,  and  there  arose  out  of  it  certain  disorders  in 
the  College  of  Ste.  Barbe.  In  spite  of  the  prohibi- 
tion set  forth  by  Parliament  at  the  request  of  the 
University,  the  regents  of  this  College  wished  to 
celebrate  Lendit  in  the  manner  they  had  always 
seen  it  celebrated ;  and  finding  opposition  in  the 
principal,  Jacques  de  Gouvea,  they  forced  the  bar- 
riers, sallied  forth  at  the  head  of  their  scholars  with 
weapons  and  tabours,  and  returned  in  the  same 
manner.  Gouvea  appealed  to  Parliament  against 
them,  and  obtained  a  judgment  interdicting  them 
from  their  functions."  In  the  end  the  University 
recommended  him  to  make  peace  with  his  refractory 
subordinates. 

^  Crevier,  vol.  v.  p.  347. 

^  That  is,  some  six  or  seven  years  after  Buchanan  had  left  Ste.  Barbe. 


CHAPTER  V. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE  AND  PROCURATOR  OF 
THE  GERMAN  NATION. 

In  passing  from  the  Scots  College  to  Ste.  Barbe, 
Buchanan  had  moved  to  one  of  the  most  liberal  col- 
leges in  Paris.  ^  Under  its  principal,  Jacques  de 
Gouvea,  the  most  radical  reforms  had  been  introduced 
in  the  teaching  of  Latin  and  philosophy.  The  old 
text -books  in  both  these  subjects  had  been  aban- 
doned, and  many  of  the  regents  were  men  with  all 
the  new  ideals  in  studies  and  religion.  Gouvea  him- 
self was  a  devout  Catholic ;  but  he  seems  to  have 
allowed  a  large  licence  of  creed  among  his  subordi- 
nates. Several  of  these  made  their  own  mark  on  the 
age,  though  they  call  for  no  special  mention  in  the 
biography  of  Buchanan.  The  names  of  two  students 
of  Ste.  Barbe,  however,  between  1520  and  1530,  can 
hardly  be  passed  by  without  notice.  These  were 
John  Calvin  and  Ignatius  Loyola,  whom  a  curious 
fate  conducted  to  the  same  College  at  an  interval 
of  a  few  years  between  these  dates. 

The  College  de  la  Marche  has  been  usually  named 
as  Calvin's  first  college  in  Paris  ;  but  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  Ste.  Barbe  must  claim  the 

A  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  152. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


61 


honour/  If  Calvin  was  actually  a  student  there,  it 
must  have  been  in  1523,  several  years  before 
Buchanan  became  regent  in  the  College.  But  Calvin 
was  again  in  Paris  in  1533,  and  at  this  period  there  is 
every  probability  that  he  and  Buchanan  may  have 
met.  In  that  year  those  who  favoured  the  doctrines 
of  Luther  were  especially  energetic  in  Paris,  and  Cal- 
vin was  already  recognised  as  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
among  them.  He  was  also  a  visitor  at  Ste.  Barbe, 
and  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Antoine  de  Gouv^a 
(the  nephew  of  the  Principal),  whom  he  had 
succeeded  in  imbuing  with  his  own  heresies.  Cal- 
vin's connection  with  Buchanan's  college  is  further 
marked  by  the  well-known  incident  of  his  early  life — 
the  affair  of  Nicolas  Kopp.  Kopp  was  one  of  the 
regents  of  philosophy  in  Ste.  Barbe,  and  mainly 
through  Calvin  had  been  led  to  take  the  side  of  the 
religious  reformers.  The  year  in  which  he  took  this 
step,  Kopp  was  appointed  rector  of  the  University, 
and  in  this  capacity  he  had  to  preach  a  sermon 
before  its  assembled  members.  Kopp  followed  the 
usual  custom,  and  preached  a  sermon  expressly 
written  for  him  by  Calvin,  which  set  the  entire  uni- 
versity by  the  ears.  The  result  was  that  Calvin 
and  his  convert  had  to  flee  for  their  lives.  By  1533 
Buchanan  had  left  Ste.  Barbe,  but  he  was  still  in 
Paris,  and  he  himself  expressly  tells  us  that  at  this 
period  "  he  fell  among  the  Lutheran  sectaries".^  It 
is  hardly  possible,  therefore,  that  he  should  not 
have  been  familiar  with  the  small  circle  of  zealous 
Lutherans,^  in  which  Calvin  was  so  prominent  a 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  207. 
2  Vita  Sua. 

^  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  religious  reformers  in  France  were 
known  as  Lutherans  till  past  1540. 


62  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


figure.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  in  his  Unes 
written  long  afterwards  on  the  death  of  Calvin,  he 
gives  no  hint  that  they  had  ever  held  personal  inter- 
course. 

In  the  beginning  of  1528  Ignatius  Loyola  had 
come  to  Paris,  driving  before  him  his  faithful  ass 
laden  with  his  books.  He  had  first  begun  his  studies 
at  the  College  Montaigu  ;  but  in  1529  he  had  taken 
up  his  residence  in  Ste.  Barbe.  His  residence  in 
this  College  is  connected  with  an  incident  which  is 
at  once  illustrative  of  his  own  spirit,  and  of  the 
manners  of  the  time.  Loyola  had  come  to  Paris  for 
the  purpose  of  study ;  but  he  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  make  converts  to  his  great  mission. 
Among  these  converts  was  a  Spaniard  named 
Amador,  a  promising  student  in  philosophy  in  Ste. 
Barbe.  This  Amador  Loyola  had  transformed  from 
a  diligent  student  into  a  visionary  as  wild  as  him- 
self, to  the  immense  indignation  of  the  university, 
and  especially  of  his  own  countrymen.  About  the 
same  time  Loyola  craved  permission  to  attend  Ste. 
Barbe  as  a  student  of  philosophy.  He  was  admitted 
on  the  express  condition  that  he  should  make  no 
attempt  on  the  consciences  of  his  fellows.  Loyola 
kept  his  word  as  far  as  Amador  was  concerned,  but 
he  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  communicate 
his  visions  to  others.  The  regent  thrice  warned 
him  of  what  would  be  the  result,  and  at  length 
made  his  complaint  to  the  principal.  Gouvea  was 
furious,  and  gave  orders  that  next  day  Loyola  should 
be  subjected  to  the  most  disgraceful  punishment  the 
CoUege  could  inflict.  This  running  of  the  gauntlet, 
known  as  la  sailed  was  administered  in  the  following 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  193. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


63 


manner.  After  dinner,  when  all  the  scholars  were 
present,  the  masters,  each  with  his  ferule  in  his  hand, 
ranged  themselves  in  a  double  row.  The  delinquent, 
stripped  to  the  waist,  was  then  made  to  pass 
between  them,  receiving  a  blow  across  the  shoulders 
from  each.  This  was  the  ignominious  punishment 
to  which  Loyola,  then  in  his  fortieth  year,  as  a 
member  of  the  College,  was  bound  to  submit.  The 
tidings  of  what  was  in  store  for  him  reached  his  ears, 
and  in  a  private  interview  he  contrived  to  turn 
away  Gouvea's  wrath.  The  next  day  after  dinner, 
when  pupils  and  masters  doubtless  looked  forward 
with  much  satisfaction  to  the  expected  performance, 
Gouv^a  arose  and  announced  the  culprit's  pardon,  and 
from  that  day  Loyola  became  an  inmate  of  Ste.  Barbe. 
As  this  was  in  1529,  the  year  of  Buchanan's 
entrance  into  Ste.  Barbe,  he  must  have  been  one  of 
the  regents  disappointed  by  Gouvea's  announcement. 
It  is  certainly  odd  to  think  that  Buchanan,  after- 
wards the  co-churchman  of  Knox,  should  so  nearly 
have  missed  the  privilege  of  laying  his  ferule  on  the 
bare  shoulders  of  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

While  there  was  this  liberty  of  opinion  in  Ste. 
Barbe,  the  advocates  of  reform  in  religion  and  edu- 
cation were  very  far  from  having  it  all  their  own 
way  either  in  the  university  or  even  in  Ste.  Barbe 
itself.  Although  we  are  now  in  the  year  1529,  it 
was  still  only  in  a  very  few  colleges  that  the  new 
methods  in  literature  and  philosophy  had  as  yet 
found  a  place.  In  1530,  after  a  delay  of  fourteen 
years,  mainly  due  to  the  University  itself,  the  College 
Eoyal  was  founded  for  the  teaching  of  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew.  But  to  the  end  of  the  century  the 
university  maintained  the  same  attitude  of  hostility 


64 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


and  indifference,  and  not  till  the  year  1600  did  it  by 
formal  decree  assign  a  place  to  Greek  in  its  curri- 
culum of  study.  ^  As  the  case  of  Descartes  (born 
1596)  also  shows,  the  medieval  Aristotle  held  its 
place  in  the  schools  of  France  till  past  the  opening 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  This  obstinate  an- 
tagonism to  all  the  new  lights  was  mainly  on  the 
part  of  the  faculties  of  theology  and  law.  The  num- 
bers and  influence  of  the  members  of  these  faculties 
put  the  fortunes  of  the  University  in  their  hands, 
and  their  vested  interests  in  the  old  order  made 
impossible  for  them  the  acceptance  of  the  new. 

Ste.  Barbe,  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  the  most 
advanced  colleges  in  the  University  ;  but  in  Ste. 
Barbe  itself,  all  the  regents  were  not  of  the  same 
mind,  and  even  the  scholars  offered  formidable  op- 
position to  any  departure  from  the  beaten  track. 
In  the  poem  lately  quoted,  it  is  enumerated  among 
Buchanan's  grievances  that  the  galoches  made  com- 
plaint that  the  grammar  of  Alexandre  de  Villedieu 
was  not  used  in  the  teaching  of  Latin.  On  the 
subject  of  Latin  grammars,  indeed,  the  battle  be- 
tween the  old  and  the  new  world  was  brought  to 
direct  issue,  and  it  was  fought  with  a  zeal  and  deter- 
mination on  both  sides  that  had  in  it  something  of 
the  character  of  a  religious  war.  The  Rudiments  of 
the  Latin  Language,  by  Alexander  of  Villa-dei, 
had  been  published  in  1240,  and  up  till  1514  it  had 
been  the  text- book  in  all  the  mediaeval  universities. 
It  is  a  curious  commentary  on  human  nature  that 
men  were  still  found  far  into  the  sixteenth  century 
who  seriously  maintained  that  the  eternal  welfare 
of  youth  would  be  at  stake  if  any  other  book  were 

^  Crevier,  vol.  vii.  pp.  64,  65. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


65 


substituted  for  Alexander.  This  Grammar,  drawn 
up  by  a  Franciscan  monk  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
is  written  in  Latin  verses,  of  which  each  word  is 
meant  to  suggest  or  recall  some  rule  of  syntax.  As 
originally  composed,  it  was  a  lamentable  enough 
presentation  of  its  subject ;  but  in  course  of  time 
it  had  become  so  overloaded  with  notes,  that,  in 
Buchanan's  day,  it  was  simply  a  barbarous  puzzle. 
This  subject  of  Latin  grammars  continued  through- 
out the  whole  century  to  be  a  source  of  trouble  and 
endless  discussion  among  the  humanists.  As  the 
new  learning  continued  to  make  way  in  the  various 
countries,  numerous  grammars  appeared,  with  the 
result  of  introducing  considerable  confusion  into  the 
study  of  the  language.  In  Scotland,  long  after- 
wards, we  shall  find,  in  connection  with  Buchanan's 
own  history,  that  the  multitude  of  Latin  Grammars 
was  made  a  matter  of  serious  discussion  in  relation 
to  educational  reform. 

The  historian  of  Ste.  Barbe  affirms  that  to 
Buchanan,  along  with  two  other  scholars,  belongs 
the  honour  of  introducing  into  that  College  "  genu- 
ine instruction  in  the  classical  languages".^  We 
have  no  detailed  information  regarding  Buchanan's 
methods  and  degree  of  success  in  the  conduct  of  his 
class  during  his  three  years  in  Ste.  Barbe ;  but  it 
may  be  regarded  as  perfectly  satisfactory  proof  of 
his  energy  in  the  cause  of  the  new  learning,  that  in 
1533  he  published  a  Latin  translation  of  Linacre's 
Grammar.  The  very  fact  that  he  undertook  such 
a  task  proves  not  only  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
education,  but  also  that  he  had  the  courage  to  make 
himself  an  object  of  dislike  to  the  authorities  of  the 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  152. 
E 


66  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


University.  It  was  published  in  Paris  by  R-obert 
Estienne,  and  ran  through  seven  editions  before  the 
end  of  the  century.  The  book  was  dedicated  to  his 
pupil,  the  young  Earl  of  Cassillis,  in  a  preface  which 
has  the  double  interest  of  clearly  setting  before  us 
Buchanan's  own  point  of  view,  as  well  as  the 
attitude  of  the  obscurantists  to  the  more  rational 
methods  he  so  strenuously  advocated.  The  trans- 
lation was  not  pubhshed  till  after  he  had  left  Ste. 
Barbe,  but  we  may  safely  conjecture  that  Linacre's 
Grammar  had  been  the  basis  of  his  teaching  there. 
After  highly  commending  the  singular  clearness, 
method,  and  accuracy  of  Linacre's  work,  he  thus 
proceeds  :  But  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  in  trans- 
lating this  book  many  will  think  that  I  have  given 
myself  quite  unnecessary  trouble.  We  have  already 
too  many  of  such  books,  these  persons  will  say  ; 
and  moreover,  they  add,  can  anything  be  said  worth 
saying  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  authors  who  have 
long  enjoyed  the  approval  of  the  schools  1  As  for 
the  novelties,  which  make  a  large  part  of  this  book, 
such  as  the  remarks  on  the  declension  of  nouns,  of 
relatives,  and  certain  moods  and  tenses  of  verbs, 
they  think  them  mere  useless  trifling.  Such 
criticism  can  come  only  of  sheer  ignorance  or  the 
blindest  prejudice,  that  will  listen  only  to  its  own 
suggestions,  and  gravely  maintains  that  departure 
from  tradition  in  such  matters  is  to  be  regarded  as 
a  proof  not  so  much  of  foolish  self-confidence  as  of 
actual  impiety.  From  these  persons,  so  wise  in 
their  own  conceit,  I  appeal  to  all  men  of  real 
learning  and  sincere  love  of  letters,  confident  that 
to  all  such  Linacre  will  generally  commend  himself" 
But  it  was  not  only  in  his  capacity  of  regent 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


67 


that  Buchanan  made  himself  felt  in  university 
circles.  Buchanan  had  an  eager  and  lifelong  inter- 
est in  education  ;  but,  as  will  abundantly  appear  as 
we  proceed,  he  was  in  the  first  place,  and  distinc- 
tively, a  man  of  letters,  with  the  very  strong  desire 
and  determination  to  make  his  voice  heard  in 
whatever  society  he  might  find  himself  It  was  at 
this  period  that  he  began  the  habit  of  launching 
those  epigrams,  which  make  such  a  considerable 
portion  of  his  work,  at  men  and  things  that  met  his 
disapproval.  We  have  already  sought  to  indicate 
the  general  state  of  opinion  in  the  University  at 
this  particular  epoch ;  but  the  influences  to  which 
Buchanan  was  now  subjected  will  be  still  better 
understood  by  considering  the  men  whose  sayings 
and  doings  were,  during  these  years,  the  talk  of  all  its 
schools.  As  representing  almost  all  the  various  ten- 
dencies in  religion  and  literature,  the  names  of  Lef^vre 
d'fitaples,  Bri^onnet,  Bishop  of  Meaux  and  Conserva- 
tor of  the  Apostolical  Privileges  of  the  University, 
Guillaume  Bude,  and  Noel  Beda,  Syndic  of  the 
University,  were  on  the  lips  of  every  one  interested 
in  the  future  of  French  religion  and  scholarship. 

The  name  of  d'fitaples,  and  the  great  work  he 
accomplished  in  rationalising  University  studies, 
have  already  been  noted.  He  had  been  forced  to 
leave  Paris  in  1525  ;  but  his  example  was  still  the 
inspiration  of  those  who  aimed  at  reform  in  learning 
and  religion.  Brigonnet  was  one  of  those  unhappy 
persons  whom  fate  mocks  with  a  mission  beyond 
their  powers.  His  high  birth  had  given  him  his 
prominent  position  in  the  University,  and,  by  senti- 
ment rather  than  from  reasoned  conviction,  he  had 
identified  himself  with  humanism  and  reform.  In 


68  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

his  bishopric  of  Meaux,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris,  he  had  introduced  the  religious  reforms 
advocated  by  d'£taples,  and  had  surrounded  him- 
self with  a  band  of  zealous  supporters.  But  Bri- 
9onnet  was  not  of  the  stuff  of  which  revolutionaries 
are  made.  Brought  face  to  face  with  the  Parliament 
and  the  Sorbonne,  he  consented  to  abandon  the 
cause  he  had  undertaken.^  It  must  certainly  count 
for  something  in  the  different  fortunes  of  religious 
reform  in  France  and  Germany,  that  in  the  one 
case  its  first  champion  was  Bri^onnet,  in  the  second, 
Luther.  Bri^onnet's  submission  had  also  taken 
place  in  1525,  during  the  captivity  of  Francis,  but 
this  victory  of  the  Sorbonne  had  only  the  effect  of 
quickening  the  zeal  of  the  more  energetic  advocates 
of  reform.  Among  these  was  Louis  de  Berquin, 
who,  according  to  Ranke,  combined  in  happier  pro- 
portions than  any  other  man  then  living  the  best 
elements  in  the  teaching  of  Luther  and  Erasmus. 
At  every  point  Berquin  was  opposed  to  the  theo- 
logical faculty,  and  his  rash  courage  and  high 
accomplishments  made  him  its  most  formidable 
single  adversary.  From  1523  till  1529  the  battle 
went  on  between  them,  and  Berquin,  supported  by 
Francis,  and  especially  by  Francis's  sister,  the 
famous  Margaret  of  Navarre,  had  for  a  time  seemed 
even  to  have  the  advantage.  Twice  Francis  rescued 
him  from  the  Parliament  and  the  theologians  ;  but  at 
length  he  passed  the  limits  of  Francis's  power  or 
desire  to  help  him,  and  in  1529  he  was  burned  at 
the  stake.  The  name  of  Bude  carried  with  it 
greater  weight  than  that  of  any  French  scholar  of 
his  day,  and  by  his  solid  contribution  to  our  know- 

^  Graf,  Jacques  Lefevre  <V Staples,  p.  120. 


REGENT  IN  S AINTE- B ARBE. 


69 


ledge  of  classical  antiquity,  he  is  in  the  line  of 
Casaubon  and  the  younger  Scaliger  rather  than 
that  of  the  Italian  stylists  and  their  French 
imitators  of  his  own  century.  All  Bude's  influence 
went  to  favour  the  new  studies,  and  it  was  in  great 
measure  his  work  that  in  1530  the  College  Royal 
was  founded  by  Francis.  Bud^'s  position  on  the 
question  of  religion  was  that  of  most  of  his  fellow- 
humanists.  He  ostensibly  adhered  to  the  traditions 
of  the  Church,  but  the  real  interest  of  his  life  was 
in  the  tradition  of  Greece  and  Rome.^  Nodi  Beda, 
the  last  of  the  group  above  named,  was  the  veri- 
table incarnation  of  the  scholastic  theology,  at  a 
time  when  the  life  had  gone  out  of  it.  "  In  one 
Beda,"  says  Erasmus,  "there  are  three  thousand 
monks."  He  pursued  every  form  of  what  he  deemed 
heresy  with  such  inveteracy  of  hate,  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  his  own  party,  he  injured  the  very  cause 
he  had  at  heart.  It  was  by  his  efforts  more  than 
by  those  of  any  one  else  that  Brigonnet  had  been 
brought  to  submission  and  Berquin  burned.  At 
last,  in  his  indefatigable  zeal,  he  persuaded  the 
theological  faculty  to  condemn  a  book  written  by 
the  King's  own  sister.  This  passed  the  endurance 
of  Francis,  and  the  University  was  compelled  to 
pass  sentence  of  exile  on  its  redoubtable  champion. 
It  was  with  this  Beda  that  men  like  Buchanan  had 
to  reckon,  when,  by  pen  or  tongue,  they  passed  the 
limits  of  what  he  deemed  the  traditions  of  the 
Church  in  human  and  divine  things. 

^  Rebitt6,  Guillaume  Bude,  Restaurateur  des  Etudes  grecques  en 
France,  p.  201.    Buchanan  has  the  following  lines  on  Bud6  : — 

GaUia  quod  Graeca  est,  quod  Graecia  barbara  non  est, 
Utraque  Budaeo  debet  utrumque  suo. — Epig.  ii.  7. 


70 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


In  the  conflict  of  opinion  represented  by  the 
names  just  mentioned  it  is  interesting  to  note  the 
different  courses  taken  by  the  three  most  eminent 
literary  Scotsmen  then  in  France — John  Major, 
Florence  Wilson,  and  Buchanan  himself.  Major, 
we  have  seen,  had  returned  to  Paris  in  1525,  and  he 
was  now  teaching  in  the  College  Montaigu  with  a 
reputation  second  to  that  of  no  doctor  in  Paris.  ^ 
His  modes  of  thought  have  already  been  indicated, 
and  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  at  this  moment 
he  was  regarded  as  "  the  veritable  chief  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy  ".^  His  former  pupil  and  he, 
therefore,  were  in  opposite  camps,  and  this  at  a  time 
when  the  strife  between  them  was  at  its  bitterest. 
In  all  probabihty,  it  is  to  this  period  we  must  refer 
Buchanan's  famous  epigram  on  his  old  master,  for 
which  he  has  been  blamed  even  by  his  own  friends 
and  admirers.  Sarcasm  could  hardly  go  further  than 
in  this  epigram  ;  yet,  read  without  reference  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  it  was  written,  and  to  the 
licence  of  abuse  which  the  Latinists  of  Buchanan's  day 
permitted  themselves,  it  will  lead  to  an  utterly  false 
impression  of  Buchanan's  character.  From  what 
has  been  said,  it  must  be  clear  that,  in  directing  his 
satire  against  Major,  Buchanan  was  in  reality  doing 
battle  against  the  system  which  Major  incarnated, 
and  which  Buchanan,  and  those  who  thought  with 
him,  were  zealously  bent  on  bringing  to  the  ground. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  the  standard  of  fair  satire  in 
Buchanan's  day  was  so  different  from  our  own,  that 
we  should  be  utterly  astray  in  inferring  from  this 
epigram  any  real  badness  of  heart  in  the  writer.  It 


^  It  is  not  quite  certain  when  Major  returned  to  Scotland.  It  must, 
however,  have  been  about  1530.  ^  Quicherat,  i.  97. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


71 


must  be  added  that  Major  himself  had  tempted  the 
attack.  In  a  spirit  of  somewhat  affected  humihty 
he  had  spoken  of  himself  as  Joannes  solo  cogno- 
mine  Major  {''Major  by  name  and  not  by  nature"). 
Buchanan's  epigram  is  the  merciless  comment  on 
these  words  : — 

Cum  scateat  nugis  solo  cognomine  Major, 

Nec  sit  in  immenso  pagina  sana  libro : 
Non  mirum,  titulis  quod  se  veracibus  ornat : 

Nec  semper  mendax  fingere  Greta  solet. 

" '  Major  by  name,'  thou  sayst,  '  and  not  by  nature  ! ' 
The  greatest  liars  sometimes  speak  the  truth  : 
And  in  thy  endless  stream  of  idle  chatter, 

What  wonder  if  thou  once  hast  spoken  sooth  ! " 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  knowledge  of 
Florence  Wilson  ^  is  so  scanty,  as  from  all  we  know 
of  him  he  is  among  the  most  interesting  of  the 
numberless  literary  "  Scots  Abroad  ".  A  few  years 
Buchanan's  senior,  he  had  received  his  education 
partly  in  Aberdeen  and  partly  in  Paris,  and  had 
early  been  caught  by  the  new  ideals  of  the  century. 
He  had  acted  as  tutor  to  the  nephew  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  was  on  familiar  terms  with  Bishop  Fisher, 
and  was  afterwards  attached  to  the  train  of  Jean  du 
Bellay,  Bishop  of  Paris.  In  accompanying  du  Bellay 
to  Kome  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Cardinal  Sado- 
leto  in  a  manner  which  throws  a  curious  light  on 
that  enthusiastic  community  of  feeling  between 
men  of  all  ranks  who  were  devotees  of  the  new 
learning.  It  is  Sadoleto  himself  who  relates  the 
incident  in  one  of  his  letters.^    One  evening  he  had 

^  We  have  no  authority  for  the  name  Florence  Wilson.  The  name 
always  appears  as  Florentius  Volusenus. 

2  It  should  be  said  that  Wilson  had  fallen  sick  at  Avignon,  on  his 
way  to  Eome  with  du  Bellay.  It  may  here  be  added  that  Buchanan  pro- 
bably met  Wilson  in  Paris  in  1531.  We  know  that  Wilson  was  there  in 
that  year. — Bannatyne  Miscellany,  vol.  i.  p.  325. 


72 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


sat  down  as  usual  to  his  books,  when  his  servant 
announced  that  a  stranger,  by  his  gown  evidently  a 
scholar,  desired  to  see  him.  He  was  annoyed  at 
being  disturbed,  but  he  ordered  the  visitor  to  be 
admitted.  The  Cardinal  is  at  once  arrested  by  the 
stranger's  address,  and  by  the  refinement  and 
choiceness  of  his  Latinity.  Questions  then  fol- 
low. Whence  did  he  come,  where  had  he  been 
educated,  what  was  his  past  history  ?  All  is 
answered  satisfactorily,  and  meanwhile  Sadoleto 
is  every  moment  becoming  more  and  more  charmed 
by  the  modesty  and  evident  accomplishments  of 
his  visitor.  The  stranger's  name,  he  learns,  is 
Volusenus,  and  he  has  come  from  Avignon  to  Car- 
pentras,  partly  to  see  Sadoleto  himself,  of  whose 
fame  he  had  heard  so  much,  and  partly  to  offer 
himself  for  the  post  of  Principal  in  the  new  school 
of  Carpentras,  in  which  Sadoleto  had  taken  such 
interest.  The  Cardinal  is  delighted  at  the  prospect 
of  having  such  a  man  in  his  neighbourhood.  He 
talks  over  the  authorities,  and  Wilson  is  unani- 
mously appointed  to  the  post.  Here  Wilson  re- 
mained probably  till  1544.^  Two  years  later,  while 
on  his  way  home  to  Scotland,  he  died  at  Vienne  in 
Dauphin^.  Buchanan  commemorates  Wilson  in 
the  following  lines  : — 

Hie  musis,  Volusene,  jaces  carissime,  ripam 
Ad  Rhodani,  terra  quam  procul  a  patria  ! 

Hoc  meruit  virtus  tua,  tellus  quae  foret  altrix 
Virtutum,  ut  cineres  conderet  ilia  tuos. 

^  In  1544  Sadoleto  wrote  to  Claude  Baduel,  Principal  of  the  Gym- 
nasium of  Nismes,  offering  him  the  Principalship  of  his  school  at  Car- 
pentras. This  would  seem  to  show  that  Wilson  had  held  that  post,  and 
was  not  a  simple  regent. — Gaufr^s,  Claude  Baduel  et  la  RSforme  deg 
j^udes  au  xvi"  siecle  (Paris,  1880),  p.  129. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


73 


"  Here  by  Rhone's  banks  (from  thy  own  fields  how  far  !), 
Beloved  of  all  the  Muses,  dost  thou  sleep  : 
Yet  doth  the  land  that  did  thy  virtues  rear, 
Meetly,  0  Florence,  thy  dear  ashes  keep." 

Wilson  has  left  us  a  few  Latin  poems,  and  a 
somewhat  lengthy  tract,  entitled  De  Animi  Tran- 
quillitate,  in  the  manner  of  the  philosophical 
treatises  of  Cicero.  His  poems  have  little  merit  as 
poetry/  and  his  treatise  has  nothing  of  Buchanan's 
force  of  thought  and  impetuous  rush  of  feeling. 
But  every  page  confirms  the  impression  we  receive 
from  Sadoleto's  letter — the  impression  of  dignity, 
refinement,  and  moral  elevation.  In  his  Latin  style 
he  is  a  greater  purist  than  Buchanan,  and  he  has 
disparaging  remarks  on  the  Latinity  of  Erasmus.^ 
But  the  interest  of  Wilson's  treatise  lies  mainly  in 
the  fact  that  it  curiously  illustrates  the  struggle 
in  his  mind  between  the  good  Catholic  and  the 
humanist,  caring  everything  for  the  choiceness  of  his 
style  and  the  genuine  flavour  of  antiquity.  After 
he  has  devoted  nearly  three-fourths  of  his  book  to 
maxims  drawn  from  the  Greeks  and  Bomans,  he 
suddenly  becomes  conscious  that  all  this  has  more 
of  the  Pagan  in  it  than  the  Christian,  and  straight- 
way proceeds  to  unsay  all  he  has  been  saying, 
and  ends  in  a  strain  of  the  soundest  orthodoxy. 
Wilson  was  a  humanist,  then,  but  a  humanist 
who,  while  keenly  conscious  of  the  shortcomings 
of  the  Church,  was  still  satisfied  to  remain  within 
its  pale.^  In  his  case,  as  in  the  case  of  Buchanan, 
we  cannot  but  regret  that  by  his  humanistic  culture 

*  Wilson  himself  tells  us  that  he  had  not  the  advantage  of  being 
trained  to  verse-making  in  his  youth  like  Buchanan. — De  Animi  Tran- 
quillitate,  p.  165  (edit.  Edin.  1751). 

*  De  Animi  Tranquillitate,  p.  250. 

^  "Nobis  Ecclesiae  auctoritas  semper  plurimi  est  facienda." — Ibid. 
p.  251. 


74 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


his  character  and  talent  were  lost  to  his  native  litera- 
ture. He  would  have  been  one  more  of  that  type 
which  in  Scotland  has  not  had  too  many  represen- 
tatives— a  type  which  Henryson  in  the  fifteenth 
and  Leighton  in  the  seventeenth  century  so  finely 
illustrate. 

In  Buchanan's  case  we  have  for  this  period  no 
such  definite  expression  of  opinion  as  in  the  case  of 
Major  and  Wilson.  He  tells  us,  indeed,  that  at 
this  time  "  he  fell  among  the  Lutheran  sectaries" 
but  this  certainly  cannot  imply  that  he  now  defin- 
itely embraced  the  opinions  of  Luther,  or  that  he 
formally  broke  with  Catholicism.  Equally  from  the 
general  tenor  of  his  life,  and  from  the  various  poems 
he  was  continually  throwing  off,  we  are  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  not  at  least  till  near  his  final 
return  to  Scotland  about  1560  did  he  throw  in  his 
lot  with  the  religious  reformers.  At  this  time  there 
were  many  Lutherans  in  Paris,  and  there  were  few 
of  the  Colleges  without  some  members  who  in 
greater  or  less  degree  favoured  their  doctrines. 
But  as  far  as  Buchanan  is  concerned  it  will  abun- 
dantly appear  as  we  proceed  that  any  seeming  in- 
clination to  side  with  Luther  against  the  Pope  must 
be  traced  to  his  detestation  of  the  dogged  obscurant- 
ism of  the  Sorbonne,  and  the  general  ignorance 
and  degradation  of  the  clergy.  In  short,  till  1560 
Buchanan's  attitude  towards  the  Church  was  that 
of  Colet,  Erasmus,  and  Thomas  More.^  It  is  difficult 
to  determine  the  exact  periods  when  the  poems 
that  make  up  the  collection  entitled  Fratres  Fratei^- 

^  "  In  flammam  Lutheranae  sectae,  jam  late  se  spargentem,  incidit." 
— Vita  Sua. 

^  And  we  may  add  Bude  himself,  who  speaks  as  strongly  as  Eras- 
mus and  Buchanan  against  the  ignorance  and  degradation  of  the  clergy. 
— Rebitte,  Vie  de  Bude,  p.  237. 


REGENT  IN  SAINTE-BARBE. 


75 


rimi  were  written,  but  in  none  of  them,  even  in 
those  where  the  satire  is  bitterest,  is  there  anything 
to  indicate  that  he  had  broken  with  the  central 
doctrines  of  the  Church. 

The  futiHty  of  the  instruction  that  still  predomi- 
nated in  the  Paris  schools,  the  ignorance  and  profli- 
gacy of  those  who  made  the  loudest  professions  of 
orthodoxy — these  were  the  subjects  that  now  filled 
Buchanan's  mind  and  exercised  his  wit.  His  epi- 
gram on  Major  shows  us  his  contempt  for  the  effete 
scholasticism  ;  the  following  shows  his  regard  for  its 
champions.  It  is  directed  against  one  Gonellus, 
a  Dominican  and  member  of  the  Sorbonne  :  "  Gonel- 
lus, who  has  a  paunch  like  a  balloon,  one  day  heard 
the  old  remark  that  truth  lies  hid  in  wine.  '  What !' 
exclaims  he,  '  have  I  wasted  all  my  precious  years 
in  these  tedious  and  silly  wranglings  of  the  Schools  ? 
Good-bye,  my  grim  Sorbonne  ;  not  with  you,  as  I 
now  learn  too  late,  does  truth  abide.  But  hail  ! 
goodly  taverns,  the  true  and  only  homes  of  wisdom.' 
And  from  that  hour  our  good  Gonellus  does  nothing 
but  sound  the  depths  of  wine-jars.  He  drinks  by 
night,  and  he  drinks  by  day.  At  length,  having 
drained  his  purse  in  draining  casks,  he  thus  sums 
up  the  result  of  his  researches  :  '  I  know  nothing, 
and  I  possess  nothing,'  and  solacing  himself  with 
this  pretty  jest,  he  boasts  that  he  is  as  wise  as 
Socrates."  ^  We  may  conceive  how  the  august 
Sorbonne  must  have  regarded  Buchanan  when  jests 
like  this  went  the  round  of  the  colleges. 

^  If  we  may  believe  Rabelais,  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  must  have 
had  a  reputation  as  bons  vivants.  We  have  seen  how  he  assigns  to 
Major  a  book  entitled  The  Art  of  making  Puddings.  To  Beda  himself 
he  ascribes  a  work  in  the  same  library  of  St.  Victor — De  Optimitate 
Triparum. 


76 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Buchanan  had  not  been  long  in  Ste.  Barbe  before 
an  honour  was  conferred  on  him  which  proves  that 
he  was  among  the  most  prominent  of  the  younger 
men  then  frequenting  the  University.  On  the  3d  of 
June  1529  he  was  elected  Procurator  of  the  German 
Nation — an  honour  which  would  have  befallen  him 
a  month  earher  had  the  Germans  who  made  part  of 
the  Nation  not  voted  against  the  English  and  Scots.  ^ 

The  arrangement  of  Nations,  with  their  Pro- 
curators, arose  naturally  out  of  the  metropolitan 
character  of  the  mediaeval  universities.  From  the 
twelfth  century  students  had  flocked  to  Paris  from 
every  country  of  Europe ;  and  those  who  came  from 
the  same  country  and  spoke  the  same  language 
naturally  drew  together,  and  formed  a  body  as 
distinct  as  the  conditions  of  university  life  would 
permit.  In  course  of  time  it  was  seen  that  this 
natural  arrangement  formed  a  suitable  basis  for 
regular  organisation,  and  accordingly  so  early  as 
1245,  in  a  Bull  of  Innocent  iv.,  the  four  Nations  of 
France,  Normandy,  Picardy,  and  England  are  dis- 
tinctly recognised.  These  four  nations  and  the 
superior  Faculties  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine, 
made  up  what  were  known  as  the  seven  "  com- 
panies "  of  the  universities ;  and  it  was  the  pro- 
curators of  the  Nations  and  the  deans  of  the 
Faculties,  who,  with  the  rector  as  president,  con- 
stituted the  university  tribunal.  The  English 
Nation  was  composed  of  three  tribes — Germany, 
Scandinavia,  and  the  British  Islands,  and  for  its 
patron  saints  it  had  Charlemagne  and  St.  Edmund.^ 

1  Archives  of  the  University  of  Paris,  Kegister  16,  fol.  169  and  170. 
See  Appendix  B. 

^  This  is  the  King  Edmund  commemorated  in  the  name  St.  Edmunds- 
bury.    See  Major,  De  Gestis  Scotorum,  lib.  iii.  cap.  i. 


PROCURATOR  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION.  77 


Of  its  schools  we  have  already  spoken.  During  the 
Hundred  Years'  War  between  England  and  France, 
the  name  "  English  Nation  "  became  an  offence  in 
French  ears,  and  in  1378  the  Emperor  Charles  iv., 
then  on  a  visit  to  Paris,  expressed  the  wish  that 
the  name  should  be  changed.  It  was  not,  however, 
till  1436  that  the  designation  German  Nation*' 
displaced  the  other  in  the  University  Registers.^ 
At  the  time  that  Buchanan  became  its  procurator  the 
German  Nation  in  Paris  was  no  longer  so  important 
a  body  as  it  had  formerly  been.  Some  years  later 
the  schism  of  England  from  Eome,  and  the  religious 
dissensions  in  Germany,  largely  reduced  its  members ; 
and  it  is  a  fact  of  curious  interest,  as  showing  what 
rending  of  the  peoples  had  ensued  from  the  general 
breach  with  Rome,  that  in  1541  there  was  but  one 
member  of  the  German  Nation  in  Paris. ^ 

The  office  of  procurator  could  be  held  only  for 
one  month,  but  in  the  event  of  his  giving  satisfac- 
tion to  the  Nation,  the  same  person  was  frequently 
re-elected  several  times  in  succession.  Buchanan's 
predecessor  in  office,  Bobert  Wauchope,  also  a  Scots- 
man, who  had  a  remarkable  career  in  his  day,  was 
re-elected  nine  times  in  succession,^  Buchanan  him- 
self four  times.*  The  duties  of  the  office  consisted  in 
looking  after  the  money  affairs  of  the  Nation,  in  pre- 
siding at  its  meetings,  and  in  reporting  their  decisions 
to  the  general  council  of  the  University.  In  the 
register  of  the  German  Nation  Buchanan  has  left  a 
memorial  of  his  term  of  office  which  at  once  gives  us 

^  Jourdain,  Excursions  Historiques  et  Philosophiques,  p.  366. 

2  Crevier,  vol.  v.  p.  367. 

3  Chalmers,  Life  of  Ruddiman,  p.  313.  Chalmers's  authority  is  the 
Register  of  the  Scots  College. 

*  Archives  of  the  University  of  Paris.    See  Appendix  B. 


78 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


a  curious  glimpse  into  the  scholastic  life  of  Paris, 
and  reveals  his  own  sarcastic  habit. 

Kobert  Dugast,  who  has  already  been  men- 
tioned as  the  proprietor  of  Ste.  Barbe,  was  at  this 
time  one  of  the  most  remarkable  among  the  prin- 
cipals of  the  colleges  of  Paris.  He  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  unusual  ability  and  force  of  charac- 
ter, and  open,  moreover,  to  all  the  new  lights 
of  the  time ;  but  he  was  greedy  and  overbearing 
to  absurdity.  From  his  uncle  he  had  inherited 
the  College  Coqueret  and  the  College  de  Reims, 
and  by  unscrupulous  dealing  he  had  made  him- 
self owner  of  Ste.  Barbe.^  As  the  result  of  all 
this,  he  was  detested  by  every  member  of  the 
University,  and  complaints  were  being  constantly 
lodged  against  him.  It  is  one  of  these  complaints 
that  Buchanan  signalises  in  the  following  entry  : — 

''Pierre  Tillier,  regent  of  the  College  Coqueret, 
has  presented  a  request  to  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  in 
the  name  of  a  certain  colleague  unjustly  imprisoned 
by  the  criminal  lieutenant,  and  also  in  the  name  of 
a  certain  pedagogue  detained  in  the  oflficial  prison 
at  the  instance  of  the  principal  of  the  above-named 
College,  a  man  detestable  by  his  harshness  and 
avarice — their  crime  being  that  they  ate  a  penny 
loaf  belonging  to  the  said  principal.  The  German 
Nation,  on  this  point  in  accordance  with  the  whole 
Faculty,  has  charged  Master  Martin  Dolet  to  demand 
the  liberation  of  the  prisoners  ;  and  as  regards  the 
said  principal,  it  declares  him  fallen  from  all  Uni- 
versity privileges,  as  having  violated  the  statutes 
which  forbid  any  member  of  the  University  to  be 
cited  before  any  court  whatever  before  the  rector 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  chap.  xxix. 


PROCURATOR  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION. 


79 


has  been  made  acquainted  with  the  affair.  Further, 
the  entire  Faculty  has  declared  the  said  principal 
guilty  of  insubordination,  and  has  charged  the 
censors  of  the  Nation  to  visit  the  College  Coqueret, 
and  to  use  their  authority  to  re-establish  order."  ^ 

In  other  entries  relating  to  this  Dugast,  Buchanan 
similarly  enlivens  his  formal  official  record.  Thus, 
another  regent  is  mentioned  as  "  desiring  to  recover 
by  legal  process  certain  articles  of  furniture  which 
he  declares  to  be  detained  by  that  rapacious  harpy 
Master  Robert  Dugast,  whom  the  same  regent  cited 
before  the  Faculty.  But  the  above-named  principal, 
with  his  usual  obstinacy,  failed  to  appear."  From 
all  we  know  of  this  Dugast  he  seems  to  have  fully 
deserved  the  worst  that  Buchanan  has  said  of  him. 

The  year  following  his  procuratorship,  1530,  a 
new  University  honour  was  conferred  on  Buchanan. 
In  one  of  the  elections  of  the  rector  during  that 
year,  it  fell  to  the  Scottish  section  to  choose  the 
elector  who  should  represent  the  German  Nation, 
and  on  the  motion  of  their  countryman,  Bobert 
Wauchope,  they  unanimously  fixed  on  "  that  able 
man,  so  learned  in  Latin  and  Greek,  Master  George 
Buchanan."  ^  The  next  dignity  would  have  been  the 
rectorship  itself;  but  Buchanan  had  identified  him- 
self far  too  prominently  with  the  new  movements 
in  the  University,  and  cast  his  witticisms  about 
much  too  freely,  to  make  it  possible  that  the  four 
Nations  should  choose  him  as  their  head. 

Buchanan  probably  resigned  his  post  in  Ste. 
Barbe  somewhere  in  1531  ;  and  the  concluding  lines 

1  See  Appendix  B. 

2  Archives  of  the  University,  Reg.  16,  fol.  184.  The  reference  to 
Buchanan's  acquaintance  with  Greek  is  noteworthy.  In  Greek,  as  will 
afterwards  be  seen,  he  appears  to  have  been  self-taught. 


80 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  the  elegy  in  which  he  gives  the  account  already 
quoted  of  his  duties  as  regent,  seem  to  commemorate 
this  step  :  ^ — 

Ite,  igitur,  Musae  steriles,  aliumque  ministrum 
Quaerite  :  nos  alio  sors  animusque  vocat. 

We  may  readily  believe  that  Buchanan,  with  his 
fastidious  temper  and  his  poet's  sensibility,  must 
have  found  in  the  highest  degree  uncongenial  that 
dismal  routine  he  has  so  vividly  described.  We 
may  fairly  conjecture,  indeed,  that  under  the 
happiest  circumstances  the  profession  of  regent  or 
tutor,  which  he  was  thenceforth  to  follow,  could 
never  have  been  grateful  to  him.  It  is  almost  as 
easy  to  think  of  Heine  or  Swift  or  Burns  yoked  to 
this  profession,  and  finding  it  their  true  function,  as 
Buchanan.  His  health  was  never  robust,  and  by 
his  mental  constitution  he  had  the  irritability  of  the 
poet  and  man  of  letters.  We  must  therefore  set  it  to 
his  credit  that,  with  his  late  experience  behind  him, 
he  chose  the  mode  of  life  he  did,  when  by  a  little 
compromise  he  might  have  found  in  the  Church  some 
comfortable  benefice  that  would  have  enabled  him 
to  cultivate  his  muse  in  peace.  That  the  tempta- 
tion came  to  him  we  have  some  reason  to  believe. 
But  he  was  too  deeply  moved  by  the  new  ideals  of 
the  time  in  religion,  in  literature,  in  politics,  to 
make  the  compromise  without  injury  to  his  best 
self  Accordingly,  as  we  believe,  he  made  what  for 
a  man  of  his  type  is  the  highest  sacrifice  he  can  pos- 
sibly make.  He  sacrificed  the  life  that  would  have 
yielded  him  the  best  opportunity  of  cultivating  his 
special  talent. 

1  He  acted  as  regent  in  Ste.  Barbe  for  three  years. —  Vita  Sua. 


PROCURATOR  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION.  81 


The  engagement  on  which  Buchanan  entered  on 
leaving  Ste.  Barbe  was  one  of  a  kind  becoming  every 
day  more  common  with  his  fellow-humanists — that 
of  tutor  or  companion  to  the  member  of  some  dis- 
tinguished house.  For  those  out  of  sympathy  with 
the  Church,  and  with  no  predilection  for  medicine  or 
law,  this  was  perhaps  the  most  comfortable  position 
in  which  they  could  find  themselves.^  Its  one  great 
drawback  was  that,  in  most  cases,  such  an  engage- 
ment could  only  be  temporary.  The  wandering- 
propensities  of  the  scholars  of  the  Renaissance  have 
often  been  noticed.  Yet  in  many  cases  it  must 
have  been  as  much  from  necessity  as  choice  that 
they  so  frequently  changed  their  abode.  None  of 
them  made  more  frequent  migrations  than  Buchan- 
an himself,  and  in  his  case  there  seems  always  to 
have  been  sufficient  reason  for  each  new  flight — 
now  the  expiry  of  an  engagement,  now  sickness, 
now  personal  risk  on  account  of  opinions. 

Buchanan's  pupil  was  the  Earl  of  Cassillis,  to 
whom,  as  we  have  seen,  he  dedicated  his  translation 
of  Linacre's  Grammar  in  1533.  The  young  Earl's 
father,  the  second  Earl  of  Cassillis,  had  been  assassi- 
nated in  1527,  and  his  son,  then  a  boy  of  twelve, 
had  been  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
uncle,  William  Kennedy,  Abbot  of  Crossraguel.^ 
Buchanan's  pupil,  Knox  tells  us,  was  one  of  those 
children  of  the  nobility  made  to  sign  the  death- 
warrant  of  Patrick  Hamilton  in  1528.^  In  1530 
Abbot  William  obtained  a  royal  licence  to  pass  to 

^  The  only  other  occupation  for  scholars  in  Buchanan's  position  was 
that  of  assistant  to  one  of  the  great  printers  of  the  time. 

2  Charters  of  the  Abbey  of  Crossraguel,  xxxvii. 

^  Knox,  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  (Laing's  edition), 
vol.  i.  p.  16. 

F 


82  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

Rome  by  way  of  France  ;  ^  and  it  is  probable  that 
his  nephew  accompanied  him  on  this  journey,  as 
Buchanan  seems  to  have  been  acquainted  with  him 
before  he  became  his  tutor.  ^  It  was  probably  in 
1532  that  the  engagement  actually  began,  and  it 
lasted  for  the  next  five  years. 

CassiUis'  long  residence  in  Paris  for  the  sake 
of  his  education  may  be  taken  as  one  proof, 
amongst  many,  that  the  Scottish  nobility  had  in 
some  degree  realised  that  the  period  of  feudalism 
was  past,  and  that  other  accomplishments  were  now- 
required  of  a  baron  than  those  which  satisfied  old 
Bell-the-Cat.  CassiUis  came  to  be  one  of  the  pro- 
minent Scottish  nobles  in  the  protracted  regency 
that  followed  the  death  of  James  v.,  and  we  may 
believe  that  his  five  years'  intercourse  with  a  man 
like  Buchanan  must  have  placed  him  at  some  ad- 
vantage with  his  brother  barons,  both  in  Scotland 
and  England.  In  1558  CassiUis  was  chosen  as  one 
of  the  Commissioners  to  represent  Scotland  at  the 
marriage  of  Mary  with  the  Dauphin,  and  on  his  way 
home  he  and  other  three  of  his  fellow-commissioners 
died  suddenly  at  Dieppe,  under  strong  suspicion  of 
having  been  poisoned  by  the  Guises.  Buchanan 
has  celebrated  his  pupil  in  the  following  lines  : — 

Hie  situs  est  heros  humili  Gilbertus  in  urna 

Kennedus,  antiquae  nobilitatis  honos  : 
Musarum  Martisque  decus,  pacisque  minister, 

Et  columen  patriae  consiliumque  suae. 

Occidit  insidiis  fallaci  exceptus  ab  hoste, 

Bis  tria  post  vitae  lustra  peracta  suae. 
Parce,  hospes,  lacrymis,  et  inanem  comprime  luctum, 

Non  misere  quisquam,  qui  bene  vixit,  obit.^ 


^  Charters  of  the  Abbey  of  Crossraeuel,  xxxvii.  ^  Vita  Sua. 

3  Epig.  ii.  9.    As  CassiUis  was  a  httle  over  forty  at  the  time  of  his 


PROCURATOR  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION.  83 


A  passage  in  his  History,  in  which  he  represents 
Cassillis  as  playing  the  part  of  another  Regulus, 
deserves  to  be  quoted,  not  only  for  its  interest  in 
the  present  connection,  but  also  as  a  curious  speci- 
men of  what  has  found  its  way  into  history  in 
the  guise  of  the  soberest  truth.  It  should  be  said 
that  Cassillis  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
English  at  Solway  Moss,  and  allowed  to  return  to 
Scotland,  though  for  very  different  reasons  from 
those  assigned  by  Buchanan.  In  the  following 
paragraph  we  have  an  account  of  the  debate  that 
arose  after  an  interview  between  the  Regent  Arran 
and  the  English  Ambassador,  who,  on  behalf  of  his 
master,  had  demanded  a  new  set  of  hostages  : — 

"  The  new  hostages  were  refused  ;  but  a  ques- 
tion of  no  less  importance  arose.  What  of  those 
nobles  (such  as  Cassillis)  who  had  been  made 
prisoners  at  Solway  Moss,  and  who  had  been 
liberated  only  after  they  had  left  hostages  behind 
them,  and  given  a  solemn  pledge  that,  in  the  event 
of  the  favourable  overtures  on  the  part  of  Henry 
not  being  accepted  by  the  Scots,  they  would  of 
their  own  accord  return  to  England  ?  The  Car- 
dinal's [Beaton's]  faction,  and  the  clergy  generally, 
plied  the  nobles  with  arguments  and  precedents  to 
prove  that,  where  the  interests  of  one's  country  are 
at  stake,  goods,  kinsfolk,  children,  everything  that 
one  holds  dear,  must  be  lost  sight  of.  The  decree 
of  the  Council  of  Constance  was  adduced,  which 
distinctly  laid  it  down  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept 

death,  Ruddiman  thought  that  the  above  epigram  must  apply  to  the 
father,  who  also  died  by  violence.    But  the  line 

"  Musarum  Martisque  decus,  pacisque  minister  " 
seems  naturally  to  apply  to  Buchanan's  pupil.    The  misstatement  of  his 
age  need  not  be  regarded  too  seriously. 


84  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


with  heretics.  The  majority  of  the  nobles,  whom 
this  question  concerned,  readily  accepted  these  ex- 
cuses for  theu^  treachery.  One  only  of  their  num- 
ber was  found,  who  could  neither  be  won  by  bribes 
nor  be  constrained  by  threats  to  break  his  pledged 
word.  This  was  Gilbert  Kennedy,  Earl  of  Cassillis. 
He  had  left  two  brothers  in  England  as  hostages  ; 
and  now  he  declared  that  nothing  would  induce 
him  to  save  his  own  life  at  the  expense  of  theirs. 
Accordingly,  in  the  teeth  of  the  strongest  opposi- 
tion, he  at  once  proceeded  to  London.  King 
Henry  lavished  his  praises  on  the  young  Earl's 
steadfast  good  faith  ;  and  that  men  might  under- 
stand that  he  knew  how  to  honour  virtue,  he  sent 
him  home  laden  with  gifts,  and  accompanied  by 
both  his  brothers."  ^ 

It  was  in  all  good  faith  that  Buchanan  wrote 
the  foregoing  paragraph,  and  it  may  be  that  in  the 
ordinary  dealings  of  life  his  pupil  was  quite  up  to 
the  moral  standard  of  his  class  and  of  his  age.  We 
now  know,  however,  what  Buchanan  could  not 
have  known,  that  Cassillis  was  in  reality  the  paid 
agent  of  Henry  viii.,  and  that  his  magnanimity  on 
this  occasion  was  purely  mythical.^  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  but  fair  to  add  that  a  large  number  of 
the  Scottish  nobles  were  in  the  same  case  as  Cas- 
sillis, and  that  their  policy  finds  some  justification 
in  the  danger  they  professed  to  see  from  the  French 
ascendency  in  Scotland. 

1  Hist  Eer.  Scot.  lib.  xv. 

2  Cassillis  is  condemned  by  a  letter  of  his  own  found  in  the  State 
Paper  Office— Ty  tier,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  p.  32  (edit.  1873). 


CHAPTEE  VI. 


SCOTLAND — QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS. 
1535-1539. 

The  following  entries  in  the  Treasurer's  Accounts 
fix  approximately  the  date  of  Buchanan's  return  to 
Scotland,  and  at  the  same  time  give  us  an  interesting 
glimpse  of  his  close  connection  with  the  Court : 

'^Item,  the  xvj  Februar  [1535-6]  be  the  Kingis 
gracis  precept  and  speciale  command  to  Maister 
George  Balquhannan  and  Andro  Myln,  servandis 
to  Lord  James,  xi  elnis  pareis  blak  to  be  thame 
twa  gounis,"  etc.,  and  various  other  "leverays", 
viz.,  ''hoiss,  bonnettis,  hugtonis,^  and  doublettis". 

Item  [the  xxj  day  of  August  1537],  to  Maister 
George  Buchquhannan,  at  the  Kingis  command  .  .  . 
XX  lib." 

In  July  1538,  upon  occasion  of  "the  Quenis 
[Magdalene  s]  saull  mess  and  dirige,  quham  God 
assolze",  Maister  George  Balquhanan  received  "  a 
goun  of  Paryse  black,  lyned  with  blak  satyne  ",  etc.  ; 
also  £20  at  the  King's  command. 

As,  on  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  spent  some 
time  in  the  country  with  the  Earl  of  Cassillis  before 
his  engagement  with  the  Lord  James,^  Buchanan 

^  Cassocks  (Fr.  hocqueton). 

2  Vita  Sua,  and  Dedication  to  Franciscanus. 


86  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


must  have  left  Paris  in  1535  ;  and  this  date  exactly 
corresponds  with  his  statement  that  his  second 
sojourn  abroad  lasted  ten  years/  It  was  during 
his  stay  in  the  country  with  Cassillis  at  this  time 
that  Buchanan  wrote  a  poem  which  was  to  have  the 
most  important  influence  on  his  subsequent  for- 
tunes. This  was  the  poem  entitled  Somnium,  in 
which  he  gave  mortal  offence  to  the  great  Order  of 
the  Franciscans,  who  thenceforward,  first  in  Scot- 
land, and  afterwards  in  England,  France,  Portugal, 
and  Italy,  pursued  him  with  every  weapon  at  their 
disposal.^ 

In  a  lively  figure  Scott  has  very  well  described 
the  position  of  the  Church  of  Rome  at  this  period. 
"That  ancient  system,"  he  says,  ''which  so  well 
accommodated  its  doctrines  to  the  wants  and  wishes 
of  a  barbarous  age,  had  since  the  art  of  printing, 
and  the  gradual  diffusion  of  knowledge,  lain  floating 
like  some  huge  leviathan,  into  which  ten  thousand 
reforming  fishers  were  darting  their  weapons."^ 
Partly  owing  to  its  existing  shortcomings,  and 
partly  also,  it  should  be  said,  to  its  own  good  offices 
in  the  past,  the  old  rehgion  in  Scotland  was  even 
less  able  than  elsewhere  to  meet  the  storm  that 
now  came  upon  it.  By  its  endeavours  in  pre- 
ceding centuries,  as  we  have  seen,  education  was 
perhaps  more  widely  spread  in  Scotland  than  in  any 
other  country  of  Europe.  From  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment passed  in  1525,  and  renewed  in  1535,  pro- 
hibiting the  importation  of  Lutheran  books,  we 
gather  that  from  the  very  first  there  was  an  inteUi- 
gent  and  widespread  interest  in  the  great  religious 

1  Vita  Sua. 

2  Dedication  to  Franciscanus.  ^  The  Monastery,  ch.  xxxi. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  87 


movement,  as  yet  associated  only  with  the  name  of 
Luther.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  it  from 
friends  and  foes  alike  that  the  bulk  of  the  clergy 
themselves  were  dead  to  that  general  awakening 
of  men's  minds  which  betokened  nothing  less  than 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era.  By  the  time  they 
came  to  see  what  many  of  the  laity  and  a  few  of 
their  own  order  had  seen  long  before,  it  was  too 
late  to  meet  the  new  conditions.^ 

But  not  only  had  the  clergy  fallen  below  the 
educated  intelligence  of  the  laity,  they  had  also 
fallen  below  its  moral  standard.^  At  the  very  time 
they  should  have  given  least  room  for  criticism, 
they  presented  the  broadest  mark.  This  moral 
disintegration  was  in  the  first  place  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  ideas  on  which  the  Church  rested  were  in 
the  last  need  of  quickening  or  renewal.  The  in- 
tellectual interest  in  its  doctrines  was  insufficient 
to  give  life  to  that  complicated  machinery  of  the 
Papal  system,  which  renders  it  so  powerful  in 
periods  of  religious  fervour,  but  in  times  of  apathy 
makes  it  but  a  cumbrous  toy.  This  intellectual 
torpor  brought  with  it  moral  deterioration ;  and 
in  that  age  moral  deterioration  meant  surrender 
to  the  coarsest  forms  of  sensual  indulgence.  If  a 
Loyola  was  not  forthcoming  to  quicken  the  Church 
from  within,  a  Knox  must  renew  it  from  without. 

The  decay  of  the  Boman  Church  in  Scotland 
was  organic ;  but  the  process  was  hastened  by  cir- 
cumstances which  at  healthier  periods  would  have 

^  Buchanan  himself  tells  us  that  many  of  the  monks  believed  that 
Luther  was  the  author  of  the  New  Testament. — Ber.  Scot.  Hist.  lib.  xv. 
p.  292.  The  testimony  of  Boece  and  Major  regarding  the  ignorance  of 
the  clergy  is  in  the  same  direction. 

2  The  poems  of  Sir  David  Lyndsay,  for  example,  leave  us  distinctly 
with  this  impression. 


88 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


promoted  its  vitality.  By  the  battle  of  Flodden,  a 
generation  of  nobles,  who  had  formed  the  natural 
equipoise  to  the  higher  clergy,  had  perished ;  and 
to  the  Church  thus  fell  an  undue  place  in  the  man- 
agement of  affairs.^  The  long  minority  of  James  v. 
increased  this  advantage  ;  and  when  James  himself 
came  to  the  throne,  his  own  policy  was  to  exalt  the 
bishops  at  the  expense  of  the  nobles.  Arrogance 
and  luxurious  living  followed  this  increase  of  power 
and  wealth ;  and  the  lower  clergy  soon  learned  the 
manners  of  their  superiors.  Hatred  and  contempt 
of  its  representatives,  therefore,  worked  with  the  de- 
sire for  reform  to  move  the  foundations  of  the  Church. 
A  large  number  of  the  nobles  detested  the  higher 
clergy,  and  the  people  were  growing  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  lower.  Moreover,  the  schism  of  England 
from  Rome  came  to  be  the  formidable  precedent 
which  presented  itself  as  the  ultimate  solution  of 
the  general  discontent.  The  influence  of  England 
in  hastening  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  is  one  of 
those  facts  in  history  which  cannot  be  measured  by 
any  accumulation  of  details.  Its  example  was  a 
great  fact  that  touched  men's  minds  at  a  thousand 
points,  and  influenced  them  unconsciously  to  them- 
selves. 

It  was  further  the  misfortune  of  the  Romish  clergy 
that  their  ways  of  living  and  thinking  presented 
precisely  the  subjects  which  the  humanists,  and, 
indeed,  the  generally  quickened  intelligence  of  the 
laity,  needed  for  the  exercise  of  their  new  weapons. 
We  certainly  do  no  injustice  to  men  like  Erasmus 
and  Buchanan  in  thinking  that  their  sarcasms  at 

^  This  is  Buchanan's  own  remark,  and  its  justice  is  evident. — Ber. 
tScot.  Hist  lib.  xiii.  p.  255. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  89 


the  expense  of  the  monks  were  often  as  much  mere 
play  of  wit  as  the  expression  of  righteous  indigna- 
tion. With  the  humanists  especially,  who  sought 
to  make  a  reputation  as  poets,  the  contrast  between 
the  lives  and  the  profession  of  the  clergy  was  an 
inexhaustible  subject.  For  poetry  of  the  highest 
type,  these  Latin  poets  of  the  Renaissance  had  no 
great  themes  on  which  their  genius  could  work. 
By  the  very  condition  of  their  training,  and  the 
mental  attitude  they  cultivated,  they  cut  them- 
selves off  from  real  contact  with  their  native  soil. 
Their  attitude  towards  the  past  and  present  of  their 
respective  countries  was  too  critical  to  permit  of 
their  producing  works  of  national  interest  and 
national  importance.  All  this  certainly  applies  with 
less  force  to  Buchanan  than  to  the  contemporary 
humanists  of  France  and  Italy.  That  intensity  of 
national  feeling,  which  has  always  pre-eminently 
distinguished  Scotsmen,  kept  him  close  to  the  heart 
of  his  country  in  spite  of  his  artificial  training. 
Yet  it  is  the  fact  that  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
patriotic  lines,  he  wrote  no  poem  which  is  essentially 
homebred  in  its  inspiration.  His  themes  were  the 
conventional  ones  of  all  the  Latinists  ;  and  in  the 
three  poems  now  about  to  be  considered  he  comes 
before  us  rather  as  the  humanist  exercising  his  wit 
and  his  Latinity  than  as  the  social  and  religious 
reformer.  In  another  production,  which  belongs  to 
a  somewhat  later  period,  we  shall  see  that  Buchanan 
rose  to  a  higher  mood  in  his  denunciation  of  what 
he  considered  the  abuses  of  the  time  in  Church  and 
State. 

The  poem  entitled  Somnium,  which  was  to  be 
the  beginning  of  so  many  of  his  troubles,  is  identical 


90 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


in  motive  with  a  poem  of  Dunbar  known  as  How 
Dunbar  was  desyrit  to  he  ane  Fryer}  Both  poets 
begin  by  describing  how  St.  Francis,  the  founder  of 
the  Franciscan  Order,  appeared  to  them  in  a  dream, 
and  besought  them  to  don  his  habit.  The  reply  of 
both  is  to  the  same  effect.  They  can  be  honester 
men  as  they  are,  for  vice  and  knavery  are  all  they 
can  see  in  the  Church.  If  St.  Francis  could  pro- 
mise them  a  bishopric,  however,  they  would  gladly 
listen  to  his  proposals. 

"  Of  full  few  freiris  that  has  bene  Sanctis  I  reid  ; 
Quhairfor  ga  bring  to  me  ane  bischopis  weid, 
Gife  evin  thou  wold  my  soul  guid  into  hevin." 

Or,  as  Buchanan  renders  it : — 

Pervia  sed  raris  sunt  coeli  regna  cucullis  : 
Vix'Monachis  illic  creditur  esse  locus. 

Multus  honoratis  fulgebit  Episcopus  aris  ; 
Kara  cucuUato  sternitur  ara  gregi. 

We  know  from  this  poem  of  Dunbar  that  in  his 
youth  he  actually  was  a  Franciscan  friar,  though 
he  afterwards  renounced  the  habit.  Buchanan  in 
all  probability  never  ceased  to  be  a  layman.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  noteworthy  that  both  this 
poem  and  FranciscanuSy  the  most  elaborate  of  all 
his  satires  against  the  friars,  open  with  the  question 
as  to  the  advisability  of  entering  the  Church.  It  is 
quite  possible,  therefore,  that  at  this  particular 
period  Buchanan  may  have  had  serious  thoughts  of 
taking  such  a  step.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
about  1537  there  was  as  yet  in  Scotland  no  real 
breach  with  the  Church,  though  many  were  calling 
aloud  its  abuses.  Knox  appears  to  have  been  in 
priest's  orders  till  about  1540,  and  Buchanan  himself 
has  told  us  that  there  were  still  men  in  the  Church 

^  Buchanan's  poem  is,  indeed,  virtually  a  translation  of  Dunbar's. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  91 


worthy  of  all  respect.  Moreover,  he  could  not  but 
be  aware  that  outside  the  Church  his  prospects 
in  life  must  be  but  dark  and  uncertain.  As  he 
had  no  predilection  for  law  or  medicine,  the  hap- 
hazard career  of  regent  or  family  tutor  was  the 
only  one  left  open  to  him.  He  was  not  a  consider- 
able enough  person  to  be  promoted  to  important 
State  employment,  and  besides,  as  has  been  said, 
the  clergy  had  it  much  their  own  way  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  government.  Altogether,  therefore, 
it  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  the  opening  lines 
of  these  two  poems  may  record  a  real  struggle  in 
Buchanan's  mind.^ 

On  the  expiry  of  his  engagement  with  Cassillis, 
Buchanan  had  thoughts  of  once  more  returning  to 
France.  Just  at  this  moment,  however,  an  offer 
was  made  to  him  by  James  v.  to  act  as  tutor  to  one 
of  his  natural  sons.^  This  son.  Lord  James  Stewart, 
is  not  to  be  confoimded  with  another  natural  son  of 
James  who  bore  the  same  name,  and  who  was  after- 
wards known  as  the  Regent  Moray. ^  As  the  King 
was  now  but  twenty-four,  Buchanan's  pupil  must 
have  been  a  mere  child.  He  died  in  1558,  leaving 
no  record  in  the  history  of  his  country.  The 
significance  of  this  engagement  for  Buchanan  was 
that  it  brought  him  into  close  connection  with  the 

^  Some  lines  in  Franciscanus  have  been  supposed  to  suggest  that 
Buchanan  was  at  one  time  a  friar  ;  but  the  context  of  the  passage  does 
not  justify  such  a  conclusion  : — 

.  .  .  puerum  olim 
Me  quoque  pene  suis  gens  haec  in  retia  mendax 
Traxerat  illecebris,  nisi  opem  mihi  forte  tulisset 
Coelitus  oblata  Eubuli  sapientia  cani. 

2  Vita  Sua. 

3  The  mother  of  Buchanan's  pupil  was  Elizabeth  Shaw,  of  the  family 
of  Sauchie. — Man,  Censure  of  Buddiman,  p.  349.  The  dedication  of 
Franciscanus  proves  that  the  Regent  Moray  was  not  Buchanan's  pupil. 


92 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Court,  and  led  the  King  to  prompt  him  to  further 
satires  against  the  Franciscans. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  Pope  Clement  vii.  in 
1531,  James  speaks  highly  of  the  virtues  of  the 
Franciscans,  yet  this  can  hardly  induce  us  to  ques- 
tion Buchanan's  statement  that  it  was  at  the 
instance  of  the  King  he  wrote  against  them.^  A  set 
epistle  from  a  boy-king  to  a  pope  may  be  taken  for 
what  it  is  worth  ;  and  the  fact  remains  that  James 
fully  enjoyed  the  roundest  jest  at  the  expense  of 
the  clergy.  Buchanan  said  hard  things  of  the 
Church,  but  certainly  no  harder  than  Sir  David 
Lyndsay  in  his  Satire  of  the  Three  Estates,  the  first 
performance  of  which  James  honoured  with  his 
presence.^  ^According  to  Buchanan,  James  fancied 
that  at  this  time  he  had  particular  reason  to  have 
a  grudge  against  the  Franciscans,  as  he  suspected 
them  of  being  concerned  in  certain  plots  now  afoot 
against  him  among  the  nobility.  From  the  date  at 
which  the  poem  was  written,  the  plot  referred  to 
was  probably  that  of  the  Master  of  Forbes,  who  in 
June  1536  was  accused  of  an  attempt  to  shoot  the 
King  at  Aberdeen,  and  in  July  1538  was  beheaded 
on  this  charge.  Nothing  is  accurately  known  of 
this  affair  of  Forbes,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Franciscans  were  in  any  way  his 
accomplices.^ 

As  Buchanan  had  already  been  made  to  feel  the 
foolhardiness  of  offending  so  powerful  a  body  as  the 
Franciscans,  it  was  with  some  reluctance  that  he 

^  The  letter  of  James  to  the  Pope  is  quoted  by  Canon  Bellesheim  in 
his  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Scotland  (ii.  139  n.),  from  Theiner, 
Monumenta,  p.  597. 

Laing,  Life  of  Lyndsay  (prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Lyndsay's  Works). 

3  Tytler,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  chap.  ix.  (Edin.  1873). 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  93 

obeyed  the  King  s  command  to  attack  them  anew.^ 
It  occurred  to  him  that  by  giving  his  verses  an 
ambiguous  turn  he  might  satisfy  the  King  without 
further  irritating  the  Franciscans.  Such  is  the 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  two  short  poems, 
each  entitled  Palinodia,  which  with  little  varia- 
tion Buchanan  gives  in  his  autobiography  and  in 
the  dedication  of  his  Franciscanus.  If  at  their  first 
appearance  these  poems  were  exactly  such  as  we 
now  have  them,  Buchanan  must  indeed  have  had  a 
supreme  contempt  equally  for  the  intelligence  of  the 
King  and  that  of  the  friars.  Both  poems  are,  in 
truth,  far  more  savage  satires  than  the  Somnium 
itself  The  fact,  however,  that  two  poems  of  the 
same  title  stand  in  the  collection  of  his  works, 
suggests  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Franciscanus,  altera- 
tions and  additions  may  have  been  made  on  the 
poems  as  originally  written.  As  they  now  stand,  it 
is  certainly  hard  to  see  how  Buchanan  could  have 
imagined  that  the  Franciscans  would  not  resent  this 
second  lampoon  tenfold  more  keenly  than  the  first. 

In  the  first  of  these  two  satires  Buchanan 
imagines  himself  borne  into  the  heavens  and  set 
down  in  a  vast  hall  thronged  by  monks  of  the 
Franciscan  order.  A  sarcastic  description  of  their 
general  appearance  follows.  But  the  crowd  is  met 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  himself,  and  he  is  at  once 
dragged  to  the  tribunal,  where  the  judge  dis- 
charges a  ludicrous  tirade  against  him  for  daring 
to  breathe  a  word  against  the  Order  of  St.  Francis. 
"  Away  with  the  knave!"  he  at  last  exclaims;  strip 
him  bare,  and  let  his  skin  pay  the  penalty  of  his 
tongue."    The  brothers  need  no  second  bidding. 

^  Vita  Sua. 


94  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

"  They  tear  the  clothes  from  my  back.  They  take 
turn  about  at  the  task.  I  receive  a  cut  for  every 
saint  in  the  calendar,  nor  even  when  the  whole  cata- 
logue of  the  saints  is  called  are  the  brothers  weary. 
My  back  is  one  sore.  So,  if  stories  be  true,  must  St. 
Jerome  have  looked  when  he  was  flogged  for  read- 
ing Cicero.  As  soon  as  I  was  allowed  to  speak, 
'  Profane  not,  my  father,  profane  not,  brothers,'  I 
exclaimed,  '  profane  not  your  holy  hands  in  my 
blood.  So  may  your  seraphic  Order  flourish  under 
ever  more  glorious  auspices.  So  may  the  ignorant 
and  the  stupid  join  your  tribe  in  flocks  ;  and  may 
never  an  old  woman  be  wanting  for  you  to  gull. 
May  the  mob  never  discover  your  lies,  nor  see 
through  your  impostures.' "  And  so  on  till  he 
becomes  untranslatable.  Of  its  companion  piece 
it  is  sufiicient  to  say  that  it  is,  if  possible,  more 
merciless  in  its  satire. 

We  can  hardly  wonder  that  the  Franciscans  were 
more  greatly  wroth  than  ever  on  the  appearance  of 
this  second  pasquinade  ;  but  we  must  needs  wonder 
to  be  told  that  it  was  not  lively  enough  to  satisfy 
James.  ^  He  demanded  of  Buchanan  another  satire, 
"  which  should  not  only  prick  the  skin,  but  probe 
the  vitals".  Annoyed  at  having  satisfied  neither 
party,  Buchanan  determined  that  on  this  occasion 
he  would  strike  out  from  the  shoulder.  The  result 
was  his  Franciscanus,  the  most  carefully  elaborated 
of  all  his  poems.  The  poem  was  only  begun  at  this 
time,  and  it  was  not  till  his  final  return  to  Scotland, 
after  1560,  that  he  again  took  it  up  and  dedicated  it 
in  its  final  form  to  the  Begent  Moray.  In  the 
additions  he  afterwards  made  to  it  he  drew  largely 

^  Via  Sua^  and  Dedication  to  Franciscanus. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  95 


from  his  intervening  experience  on  the  Continent. 
Doubtless,  also,  he  added  touches  to  what  he  had 
already  written,  as  in  every  respect  his  poem  is  the 
production  of  maturity. 

The  poem  opens  with  a  statement  of  the  various 
reasons  which  should  induce  men  of  serious  mind  to 
enter  the  Church.  "  What  a  safe  haven  is  to  the 
storm-tost  ship,  the  Church  should  be  to  the  soul 
vexed  by  its  own  failures  to  attain  true  virtue." 
The  remainder  of  the  poem  (which  consists  of  nearly 
a  thousand  lines)  is  the  reply  to  any  one  who  may 
think  that  by  donning  the  Franciscan  habit  he  is 
likely  to  save  his  soul.  The  reply  is  put  into  the 
mouth  of  one  who  has  himself  been  a  Franciscan, 
and  can  therefore  speak  of  what  he  knows.  Who, 
in  the  first  place,  he  asks,  are  those  who  become 
Franciscans  ?  Those  ruined  in  purse,  law-breakers, 
the  ignorant,  the  diseased  in  mind  and  body,  the 
used-up  gambler  and  voluptuary.  Formerly,  men 
when  driven  to  straits  committed  suicide ;  now  they 
turn  Franciscans.  But  it  may  be  asked.  How  do 
such  creatures  impose  on  the  world  as  they  do  ?  The 
answer  is  easy  :  All  have  to  serve  an  apprenticeship 
to  knavery.  The  novice  must  first  learn  to  fashion 
his  bearing  and  speech  to  his  new  profession.  Having 
acquired  these  elements,  he  is  put  into  the  hands  of 
some  aged  friar,  who  instructs  him  in  all  the  methods 
of  befooling  the  people  and  indulging  his  own  vices 
with  impunity.  And  here  the  poet  presents  the 
imaginary  address  of  such  a  counsellor  to  his  raw 
brother.  Much  of  this  speech  cannot  be  described 
except  in  the  most  general  terms,  but  its  outlines 
may  be  given.  The  art  of  arts,  he  says,  is  how  to 
make  dexterous  use  of  the  confessional  so  as  to  make 


96 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


you  master  of  your  penitent.  Rich  matrons  are  the 
most  profitable  victims.  The  country  is  the  best 
field  of  operations,  for  there  the  people  are  less  keen- 
witted than  in  towns.  It  is  needful  that  the  Fran- 
ciscan should  be  eloquent ;  but  to  acquire  eloquence 
the  schools  are  the  last  place  in  the  world  to  frequent. 
The  rules  of  successful  oratory  can  easily  be  given. 
Cultivate  a  face  of  brass  ;  eschew  learning ;  a  few 
Latin  words  dexterously  applied  will  supply  all  that 
is  wanted  ;  flavour  your  sermons  with  frequent  hints 
of  the  horrors  that  await  the  sinner.  Avoid,  as  you 
would  the  deadliest  poison,  the  writings  of  St.  Paul. 
Well  had  it  been  for  the  Church  had  that  apostle 
died  in  his  childhood,  or  that  at  least  he  had  never 
been  converted.  The  golden  age  of  the  Franciscans 
is  gone.  People  can  no  more  be  tricked  as  of  old. 
And  the  poem  concludes  with  a  comical  story  of  a 
brother  who  failed  in  an  attempt  to  impose  on 
certain  stupid  Scottish  peasants. 

This  satire  is  certainly  a  brilliant  performance, 
careful  in  construction,  ingenious  in  detail,  abounding 
in  happy  sallies.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  satire 
of  the  type  that  rises  into  poetry  by  the  disinter- 
estedness of  its  inspiration,  and  the  very  intensity 
of  its  denunciation  of  evil.  There  is  nothing  in 
Buchanan  here  of  the  prophet's  or  reformer's  ful- 
ness of  soul,  or  their  burning  consciousness  of  a 
divine  cause.  On  its  own  level,  however,  it  can 
hardly  be  surpassed  in  its  dexterous  play  of  ironical 
invective,  and  in  its  skill  in  the  selection  of  points. 
Lyndsay  wrote  as  bitterly  of  the  monks,  but  the 
satire  of  Buchanan  is  the  far  more  perfect  weapon, 
and  wielded  with  far  higher  skill  and  far  keener 
purpose  to  wound. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  97 

Two  questions  suggest  themselves  in  connection 
with  these  satires  of  Buchanan  :  how  far  are  we  to 
consider  them  legitimate ;  and  how  are  we  to  regard 
what  to  the  modern  reader  is  the  repulsive  coarse- 
ness of  many  of  their  passages  ?  If  satire  be  a 
legitimate  weapon  at  all,  it  can  never  have  stronger 
justification  than  in  the  purpose  for  which  Buchanan 
now  used  it.  A  society  which  nominally  existed  for 
the  noblest  of  all  ends,  yet  by  its  position,  its  prestige, 
its  example,  polluting  all  the  sources  of  the  national 
life — this  surely  is  a  legitimate  object  of  satire,  and 
specially  so  when  more  effective  weapons  are  out  of 
the  question.  That  such  was  indeed  the  real  con- 
dition of  the  Church  is  not  questioned  by  serious 
historians  of  any  shade  of  opinion.^  At  the  same 
time  we  may  make  too  much  of  these  admissions, 
and  draw  somewhat  erroneous  conclusions  as  to  the 
real  condition  of  Scotland  at  this  period.  In  the 
sixteenth  century,  in  Scotland  as  elsewhere,  there 
took  place  a  great  moral  and  intellectual  awakening, 
and  the  national  mind  was  violently  turned  to  self- 
examination  and  self-criticism.  If  at  any  period  of 
its  history  a  people's  mind  takes  this  turn,  it  will 
never  be  at  loss  for  the  materials  of  a  damning  in- 
dictment against  itself.  In  such  a  case  it  is  apt  to 
exaggerate  its  own  shortcomings,  and  shut  its  eyes 
to  the  saving  elements  in  its  own  constitution.  This 
was  what  happened  to  Scotland  at  this  particular 
epoch.  The  nation  saw  its  own  deformities,  and 
fortunately  for  its  own  highest  interests  would  insist 
in  thinking  of  nothing  else.  That  the  forces  on  the 
side  of  religion  and  virtue  came  to  prevail  is  conclu- 

1  See  Canon  Bellesheim's  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Scotlandy 
vol.  ii.  chap.  vi.  (Hunter  Blair's  translation). 

G 

1 


98  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

sive  proof  that  there  was  somewhere  stored  up  the 
moral  energy  which  should  ultimately  reconstruct 
society  on  a  new  basis.  In  the  Church  itself  there 
were  undoubtedly  many  persons  who  preserved  its 
nobler  traditions,  and  who  would  gladly  have  set 
about  the  work  of  reformation  from  within.  But, 
as  has  already  been  said,  these  persons  were  neither 
numerous  enough  nor  influential  enough  to  make 
such  a  reform  possible.  Of  the  better  side  of  the 
dying  Church  Buchanan  himself  gives  us  a  pleasant 
glimpse  in  an  interesting  poem  written  at  the  same 
period  as  the  three  satires  just  mentioned.^  This 
poem  has  a  double  interest,  as  marking  Buchanan  s 
own  religious  sentiments,  and  as  presenting  us  with 
an  "  interior "  in  Scottish  ecclesiastical  society  of 
that  day  such  as  the  historians  have  not  led  us  to 
expect.  The  Archbishop  whose  entertainment  the 
poet  commemorates  is  Gavin  Dunbar,  who  had  once 
been  tutor  to  the  King,  had  become  Archbishop  of 
Glasgow  in  1524,  and  Chancellor  of  the  kingdom  in 
1528.  In  his  History,  written  long  after  this  poem, 
and  when  he  had  become  a  member  of  the  Beformed 
Church,  Buchanan  has  still  a  kindly  word  to  say  of 
Dunbar,  making  mention  of  him  as  a  good  and 
learned  man,  though  in  the  opinion  of  certain  people 
somewhat  deficient  in  political  prudence  It  should 
also  be  noted,  as  further  bearing  on  Buchanan's  re- 
ligious opinions  at  this  time,  that  this  same  Arch- 
bishop solemnly  protested  in  1543  against  the  pro- 
posal to  permit  the  Bible  to  be  read  in  the  Scots  or 
English  tongue.  The  poem  is  entitled  CoeJia  Gavini 
Archiepiscopi  Glascuensis.  "  Having  sat  as  a  guest 
with  Gavin,  I  envy  not  the  gods  their  nectar  and 

1  Eijig.  i.  43. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS.  99 


ambrosia.  A  feast  where  was  no  vain  display,  but  a 
table  chastely  and  generously  furnished,  seasoned 
with  talk,  now  serious,  now  bright  with  Attic  wit ! 
The  guests  were  equal  in  number  to  the  Muses, 
worthy  of  themselves  in  doctrine,  genius,  sympathy, 
and  noble  feeling  [fides).  As  Apollo  led  the  choir 
of  the  Muses,  so  our  host  shone  above  all  by  his 
eloquent  speech.  The  talk  was  of  the  glory  of  Him 
who  wields  the  thunder,  how  He  took  on  Him  the 
burden  of  our  condition,  how  the  Divine  nature 
clothed  with  man's  frail  flesh  received  no  stain  of 
sin,  how  God  descended  in  the  form  of  a  servant, 
yet  His  mortal  covering  stripped  Him  not  of  His  own 
Divine  nature.  Each  guest  is  in  doubt  whether  the 
school  has  found  its  way  to  the  palace,  or  the  palace 
to  the  school." 

With  reference  to  the  coarseness  of  these  satires 
of  Buchanan,  as  well  as  many  other  of  his  poems 
besides,  the  saying  of  the  Abbe  Galiani  must  be  re- 
garded as  the  last  word  :  "  One  century  may  judge 
another  century ;  but  only  his  own  century  may 
judge  the  individual."  When  we  speak  of  the 
coarseness  of  the  writers  of  a  past  age  it  should  at 
once  be  made  plain  whether  we  speak  of  a  coarse- 
ness relative  to  our  own  or  the  writer's  day. 
Judged  by  a  modern  standard,  much  of  Buchanan's 
work  is  objectionable  in  a  high  degree.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  we  compare  him  even  with  the  most 
reputable  writers  of  his  own  century,  we  find  him 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  his  neighbours.  In 
Scotland  we  have  the  flagrant  instances  of  William 
Dunbar  and  Sir  David  Lyndsay,  who  speak  in  the 
vernacular  with  a  licence  that  fairly  leaves  Buchanan 
behind  ;  and  the  "  meary  bourds  "  with  which  Knox 


100  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


enlivens  his  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland 
may  be  regarded  as  marking  the  limits  of  the  strictest 
decorum  which  the  age  prescribed  for  itself  If  we 
go  abroad,  we  have  but  to  finger  the  pages  of  the 
Contes  et  Nouvelles  of  Margaret  of  Navarre,  the  type 
of  a  pious  soul  and  a  refined  intelligence,  to  be  con- 
vinced that  a  freedom  of  speech  was  then  permitted 
which  by  no  means  implied  native  coarseness  in  the 
writer.  In  Buchanan's  case,  moreover,  we  must 
take  into  account  that  he  wrote  in  the  language  of 
the  learned ;  and  as  we  shall  see  with  reference  to 
another  side  of  his  work,  this  must  count  for  more 
than  is  generally  supposed  in  the  final  estimate  we 
form  of  him. 

It  has  always  been  matter  for  wonder  that  Lynd- 
say  escaped  the  consequences  of  his  unmeasured 
invective  against  the  Church,  when  many  persons 
less  formidable  and  less  distinguished  were  called  to 
account.  Buchanan,  at  all  events,  was  soon  made 
to  feel  that  not  even  the  countenance  of  the  King 
would  be  his  defence  against  the  wrath  of  those  he 
had  offended.  The  year  1539  was  one  of  vigorous 
action  against  heretics.  "  In  the  beginning  of  that 
year,"  he  tells  us  in  his  History,  many  suspected  of 
Lutheranism  were  seized ;  towards  the  end  of  Feb- 
ruary five  were  burned  ;  nine  recanted  ;  many  were 
exiled.  Among  the  last  was  George  Buchanan, 
who,  while  his  guards  were  asleep,  escaped  from  the 
window  of  his  sleeping  apartment."^  As  it  had 
come  to  his  ears  that  Cardinal  Beaton  had  offered 
a  bribe  to  the  King  to  put  him  in  his  hands,  it 
was  evident  that  Scotland  had  become  too  hot 
for  him.^ 

1  Rer.  Scot.  Hist.  lib.  xiv.  p.  277.  Vita  Sua. 


QUARREL  WITH  THE  FRANCISCANS. 


101 


On  escaping  from  his  prison  Buchanan  made  for 
England.  But  his  adventures  were  not  yet  over,  as 
we  gather  from  the  letter  of  Randolph,  in  which  he 
suggests  that  his  biography  should  be  written  while 
he  is  still  alive  to  supply  the  facts.  ^  Among  other 
things,  Randolph  says  that  he  will  have  to  tell 
how  the  Grey  Friars  prevailed  against  him,  that  he 
was  fayne  to  leave  his  contrey,  how  he  escapid  with 
great  hazard  of  his  lyfe  at  Godes  hand  the  thievis 
on  the  Border,  the  plague  in  the  north  of  England, 
what  relieve  he  found  heere  at  a  famous  knightis 
handes.  Sir  John  Bainsforde,  the  onlie  man  that 
mayntaynid  him  against  the  furie  of  the  Papists 
Besides  what  is  here  stated,  we  know  nothing 
further  of  Buchanan's  sojourn  in  England  at  this 
time  than  what  is  implied  in  three  short  poems,  two 
of  them  apparently  written  now,  the  third  at  some 
subsequent  period.  The  last  is  an  epitaph  on  Sir 
John  Bainsford,  with  whom  he  found  refuge.^  The 
terms  in  which  he  speaks  of  Bainsford  bear  out 
the  words  of  Bandolph.  "  His  house,"  Buchanan 
says,  "  was  an  altar  of  refuge  to  the  wretched,  an  ark 
of  safety  to  the  good."  The  second  poem  is  addressed 
to  Thomas  Cromwell,  then  near  the  term  of  his 
career.  From  this  poem  we  must  conclude  that  at 
no  period  of  his  life  were  Buchanan's  fortunes  at  a 
lower  ebb.  Addressing  Cromwell  as  a  "  haven  for 
the  unfortunate  and  the  restorer  of  primitive  piety  ", 
he  speaks  of  himself  as  a  wanderer,  an  exile,  needy, 
tossed  about  by  land  and  sea  through  every  trial 
which  life  can  bring  to  man  ".  And  he  prays  the 
great  man  to  accept  the  humble  gift  he  lays  at  his 
feet.  This  gift  was  a  collection  of  poems,  which  he 
speaks  of  as  "  sheaves  from  the  poor  harvest  of  a 

^  See  Appendix  A.  ,  ^  Epig.  ii.  24. 


102 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


barren  wit".^  As  is  well  known,  this  was  tlie 
universal  manner  in  which  poor  scholars  made  their 
approaches  to  the  great.  It  speaks  well  for  the 
native  independence  of  Buchanan's  character  that 
such  productions  make  but  a  small  proportion  of  his 
work,  though  more  even  than  most  of  the  scholars 
of  his  day  he  must  have  known  the  pressure  of 
immediate  need. 

The  lines  Buchanan  addressed  to  Henry  viii.  at 
the  same  period  even  more  strongly  confirm  the  im- 
pression of  his  needy  condition.^  In  the  sketch  of 
his  own  life  Buchanan  sarcastically  speaks  of  Henry 
as  "  burning  Protestant  and  Catholic  alike,  on  the 
same  day,  and  in  the  same  fire,  and  as  more  intent 
on  safeguarding  his  prerogative  than  advancing  pure 
religion But  in  these  lines  he  addresses  Henry 
as  if  he  were  an  Alfred  or  St.  Louis.  "  His  virtues," 
he  concludes,  "  place  him  in  the  ranks  of  the  gods, 
and  far  above  the  proudest  aspirations  of  mortals." 
This  was,  of  course,  but  the  current  coin  of  courtly 
compliment,  and  has  its  perfect  parallel  in  the  flat- 
teries addressed  by  Spenser  to  Elizabeth.  The 
University  of  Paris,  having  often  to  address  great 
personages  of  questionable  character,  justified  its  ill- 
deserved  eulogies  on  the  ground  that  though  ill- 
deserved,  they  placed  before  the  person  addressed 
the  pattern  of  what  he  ought  to  be.  And  no  better 
apology,  perhaps,  could  be  offered  for  the  custom. 

Meanwhile,  from  Henry's  indiscriminate  dealings 
with  persons  of  all  shades  of  rehgious  opinion,  it 
was  in  daily  risk  that  Buchanan  remained  in  Eng- 
land. Once  more,  therefore,  and  when  he  was  now 
in  his  thirty-third  year,  he  had  to  fare  forth  and 
begin  the  world  anew. 

^  MiscelL  xiii.  ^  Ibid.  xv. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


BORDEAUX. 
1539-1542. 

On  leaving  England,  Buchanan  once  more  made 
for  Paris.  It  would  seem  that  he  regarded  France 
much  as  Heine  regarded  it  three  centuries  later. 
"  How  is  it,"  exclaims  Heine,  "  that  France  lays 
such  a  spell  on  every  foreigner  who  may  happen  to 
pass  a  few  years  on  its  soil  ? "  ^  In  the  sixteenth 
century  Buchanan  bears  similar  testimony  to  the 
attraction  that  France  and  its  people  exerted  on  all 
cultivated  minds.  Certain  of  his  panegyrics,  in- 
deed, are  hardly  borne  out  by  his  own  experiences 
in  that  country.  Thus  he  speaks  of  her  as  the 
kind  nurse  of  all  true  learning",  "the  common 
fatherland  of  all  nations  ",  "  the  sincere  worshipper 
of  the  Deity  ".^  The  justice  of  these  laudations 
may  be  questioned ;  yet  in  speaking  thus  Buchanan 
undoubtedly  gives  expression  to  the  general  feeling 
of  scholars  towards  France  during  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  labours  of  the  best 
humanists,  as  we  have  seen,  were  even  during  this 
period  thwarted  by  many  opposing  forces  ;  yet  with 
Francis  as  her  king,  France  was  on  the  whole  the 
happiest  soil  for  the  disinterested  pursuit  of  the  best 
thought  then  known.    Buchanan's  attachment  to 

^  Lutetia,  Letter  xliii.  -  Adventus  in  Galliam. 


104  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


France  seems  to  have  been  cordially  returned.  The 
French  were  still  at  this  period  more  kindly  disposed 
to  the  Scots  than  to  other  foreigners;  and  Buchanan, 
by  his  long  residence  in  their  country,  and  by  his 
ready  acknowledgment  of  its  superiority,  had  still 
further  claim  on  their  goodwill.  Buchanan,"  says 
de  Thou,^  was  born  by  the  banks  of  the  Blane,  in 
the  country  of  the  Lennox,  in  Scotland ;  but  he  was 
of  us  by  adoption." 

But  on  the  present  occasion  Buchanan  was  not 
long  to  enjoy  the  society  of  Paris.  On  his  arrival 
he  found  his  arch-enemy,  Cardinal  Beaton,  engaged 
in  an  embassy  there.  ^  As  things  now  went  at  the 
Court  and  at  the  University,  it  would  have  been  an 
easy  matter  for  Beaton  to  have  placed  Buchanan  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  would  have  effectively 
silenced  his  gibes  at  cardinals  and  monks.  Since 
Buchanan  had  left  Paris  in  1535,  Francis  had  finally 
identified  himself  with  the  old  party  in  religion 
against  the  Lutheran  sectaries.  An  active  per- 
secution was  being  carried  on  in  the  capital  and  the 
provinces ;  and  no  one  was  safe  who  gave  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  a  leaning  to  the  new  doctrine. 
Paris,  therefore,  was  no  place  for  Buchanan  at  such 
a  time.  It  was  fortunate,  therefore,  that  just  at 
this  moment  a  post  was  ofiered  to  him  which  for  the 
next  three  years  provided  him  with  a  resting-place 
of  comparative  security.^ 

In  1533  there  had  been  opened  at  Bordeaux  a 
great  school,  which  Montaigne,  himself  one  of  its 

^  Thuanus,  Bist.  sui  Temporis,  vol.  iv.  p.  99. 

2  Vita  Sua.  Pinkerton  {History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  p.  352)  throws 
doubt  on  Buchanan's  statement  here.  But  we  now  know  that  Beaton 
was  in  Paris  in  1539. — State  Papers,  Hen.  viii.  v.  154,  156. 

3  Ibid. 


BORDEAUX. 


105 


scholars,  speaks  of  as  "  very  flourishing  for  that  time, 
and  the  best  in  France  ".^  Planned  on  the  model 
of  the  best  colleges  of  Paris,  but  especially  that  of 
Navarre,^  and  supported  by  the  most  eminent 
public  men  of  the  time,  this  school,  known  as  the 
College  de  Guyenne,  had  already  attracted  many  of 
the  best  scholars  in  France.  The  institution  had  at 
present  the  further  good  fortune  of  having  at  its  head 
a  man  whom  Montaigne,  the  most  capable  of  judges, 
calls  "  the  greatest  principal  of  France  ".^  This  was 
Andre  de  Gouvea,  another  member  of  that  Por- 
tuguese family  who  played  such  a  distinguished 
part  in  the  development  of  education  during  this 
period.  Andre  was  the  nephew  of  that  Jacques  de 
Gouvea,  whom  we  have  seen  as  principal  of  Ste. 
Barbe  while  Buchanan  was  regent  there.  During 
the  principalship  of  his  uncle,  Andre  had  acted  as 
one  of  his  regents,  and  must  then  have  known 
Buchanan  as  his  colleague,  and  as  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  younger  men  in  connection  with 
the  University.  About  the  time  of  Buchanan's 
arrival  in  Paris,  Gouvea  had  two  vacancies  in  his 
College,  and  one  of  these  he  oftered  to  his  ancient 
colleague.  Buchanan  at  once  closed  with  the  ofler, 
and  for  the  next  three  years  we  find  him  settled  in 
Bordeaux.  The  other  vacancy  was  filled  by  Elie 
Vinet,  afterwards  himself  principal  of  the  College, 
and  with  whom  to  the  close  of  his  life  Buchanan  was 
united  in  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship. 

In  the  history  of  what  we  now  call  secondary 
education,  the  College  de  Guyenne,  with  the  School  of 

^  Montaigne,  Essais,  Liv.  i,  chap.  xxv. 
^  Massebieau,  Revue  PMagogique,  1888. 
^  Montaigne,  Essais,  Liv.  i.  chap.  xxv. 


106 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Sturm  at  Strasbourg,  and  that  of  Calvin  at  Geneva, 
supplies  us  with  the  most  interesting  and  import- 
ant details  for  the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  college 
of  Gu jenne  we  have  the  most  detailed  history  from 
its  foundation.  From  that  history,  lately  written 
by  M.  GauUieur,^  we  may  gather  how,  at  an  epoch 
in  education  in  many  respects  resembling  our  own, 
the  enlightened  men  of  that  time  sought  to  meet 
the  new  conditions  and  new  aims  of  life  that  had 
come  to  them  with  the  revival  of  letters.  It  is,  of 
course,  beside  our  present  task  to  give  a  detailed 
account  of  the  arrangements  and  scope  of  the  new 
College  of  Bordeaux.  In  the  case  of  such  men  as 
Sturm  and  Gouvea,  the  institutions  which  they 
made  and  fostered  form  the  most  essential  part 
of  their  biographies.  But  Buchanan,  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  never  had  any  part  in  the  construc- 
tion and  direction  of  the  school  of  Guyenne,  and  to 
the  end  he  remained  only  one  of  the  subordinates 
of  the  institution.  Still,  as  for  three  years  he  held 
this  post,  and  as  these  three  years  were  perhaps 
among  the  happiest  of  his  chequered  life,  some 
account  of  his  new  surroundings  seems  in  a  certain 
degree  necessary. 

A  similar  problem  to  that  which  confronts  our- 
selves confronted  men  in  the  opening  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  immense  progress  of  science 
during  late  years,  and  the  transformation  it  has 
wrought  in  the  conditions  of  modern  life,  have 
forced  us  to  reconsider  our  entire  scheme  of  educa- 
tion. The  traditions  of  humanism  that  come  to  us 
from  the  sixteenth  century  appear  to  be  doomed,  and 
the  ideal  of  education  that  now  seems  to  win  most 

^  Ernest  Gaullieur,  Histoire  du  College  de  Guyenne  (Paris,  1874). 


BORDEAUX. 


107 


favour  is  hard-and-fast  apprenticeship  to  practical 
life.  There  is  a  curious  touch  of  irony  in  the  fact 
that  to-day,  as  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Sor- 
bonne  has  become  in  France  the  by- word  for  ob- 
scurantism in  education.  Its  reproach  to-day  is  its 
dogged  adherence  to  these  very  classical  studies  it 
originally  did  its  best  to  obstruct.  The  transfor- 
mation which  science  has  wrought  for  us  in  the 
present  century,  humanism  wrought  in  the  six- 
teenth. The  old  scholastic  training  was  outgrown, 
and  in  the  best  minds  the  belief  was  universal  that 
in  an  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  Greece  and 
Rome  was  to  be  found  the  best  possible  intellectual 
discipline  for  youth  and  manhood  alike.  Then,  as 
now,  there  were  extremists  in  educational  matters. 
As  we  have  now  certain  modern  men  of  science 
who  see  in  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek  the  merest 
dissipation  of  energy,  so,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  there  were  many  who  thought  that  the 
only  possible  line  of  progress  for  modern  Europe  was 
in  the  universal  adoption  of  Latin  as  the  vehicle  at 
once  of  speech  and  literature.  These  persons  had  no 
promptings  to  seek  for  anything  that  was  good  in 
the  old  studies  they  sought  to  displace.  Yet  in 
this  neglect  they  undoubtedly  missed  much  that 
would  have  rendered  more  fruitful  their  study  of 
antiquity.  As  it  happened,  the  broad  instincts  of 
the  modern  nations  led  them  in  far  other  directions 
than  the  humanists  confidently  anticipated,  and  it 
may  be  that  their  modern  representatives  similarly 
miss  the  deepest  instincts  of  their  time. 

The  arrangements  of  the  new  school  in  Bor- 
deaux give  us  a  measure  of  the  change  that  had 
taken  place  in  educated  Europe  since  the  opening 


108  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

of  the  century.  The  school  was  virtually  called 
into  existence  for  the  teaching  of  Latin,  as  that 
language  had  come  to  be  known  through  the  labours 
of  the  humanists.  In  the  ten  successive  classes 
into  which  the  scholars  were  divided/  Latin  was  the 
one  subject  of  instruction  through  all  the  school 
hours,  through  all  the  years  of  attendance.  In  five 
higher  classes,  to  which  outsiders  were  admitted, 
philosophy,  Greek,  and  mathematics  were  taught. 
The  arrangements  for  the  last  two  subjects,  how- 
ever, were  so  inadequate  that  only  the  merest  ele- 
ments could  be  acquired  by  the  most  diligent 
scholars.^  A  lecture  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  on 
the  first  Sunday  of  every  month,  completed  the  list 
of  subjects  taught  at  this  great  school,  planned 
according  to  all  the  lights  of  the  time.^  Bordeaux, 
it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  for  centuries  a 
great  mart  for  commerce,  and  was  therefore  full  of 
all  the  activities  of  a  manifold  life  ;  yet  in  this 
curriculum  of  its  new  College  not  the  slightest 
provision  is  made  for  the  practical  training  of  its 
future  citizens. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  College  in  some  degree  discharged  the  functions 
of  an  elementary  school,  a  secondary  school,  and  a 
university.  In  the  tenth  class,  pupils  were  taught 
to  read  and  write,  and  they  gradually  proceeded 
through  the  Latin  course  till  they  were  sufficiently 
advanced  to  begin  the  study  of  philosophy.  In  the 
subordinate  place  given  to  philosophy,  as  in  the 
excessive  importance  attached  to  Latin,  we  see  all 


^  Two  more  classes  were  formed  by  a  subdivision  of  the  sixth  and 
seventh.  This  change  was  made  before  Gouvea's  day. — Gaullieur,  p.  104. 
2  Gaullieur,  p.  104.  3  jj^i^i  ^  153. 


BORDEAUX. 


109 


the  new  tendencies  of  humanism.  Whereas  in  the 
Paris  colleges  three  years  were  allotted  to  philo- 
sophy, at  Guyenne  two  were  now  thought  enough.^ 
The  methods  of  instruction  in  this  subject,  also, 
were  entirely  different  from  those  followed  in  the 
schools  of  Paris.  Logic  and  ethics  were  taught,  as 
Melanchthon  had  shown  the  way,  by  introducing  the 
scholars  to  practical  illustrations  of  these  sciences  in 
the  ancient  writers — not,  as  had  for  centuries  been 
the  case,  by  books  of  "  sentences  "  and  trifling  exer- 
cises. In  all  the  classes  and  in  all  the  different 
subjects  dictation  and  learning  by  heart  were  prac- 
tised to  what  we  should  now  consider  an  utterly 
undue  extent.  The  custom  of  disputation,  which 
made  so  large  a  part  of  mediaeval  instruction,  re- 
ceived a  strictly  subordinate  place  in  the  school  of 
Gouvea.  Only  on  Saturdays  was  the  practice  put 
in  force,  when  six  scholars  of  one  class  sat  in  judg- 
ment on  the  written  compositions  of  six  scholars  of 
the  class  below.  ^ 

The  discipline  and  internal  arrangements  at 
Bordeaux  mark  a  distinct  advance  on  the  colleges  of 
Paris.  The  pupils  did  not  lie  on  the  floor,  but 
were  seated  on  benches,  arranged,  in  the  case  of  the 
junior  classes,  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre. 
From  the  list  of  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the 
scholars,  posted  in  the  great  hall  of  the  College,  a 
few  may  be  given  as  throwing  a  curious  light  on 
the  time.  The  scholars  must  be  religious  and  filled 
with  the  fear  of  God  :  thev  must  not  think  or 
speak  ill  of  the  Catholic  religion ;  they  must  not 
read  or  have  in  their  possession  books  condemned 
by  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  (we  shall  see  that 

1  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  232.  2  jj^-^        \  p  234. 


110 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


there  was  some  need  for  this  prohibition) ;  they 
must  take  in  good  part  their  reproofs  and  punish- 
ments, and  not  use  threats  or  insolent  words  to 
their  regents ;  they  must  speak  no  language  but 
Latin  amongst  themselves.^  Of  the  extent  of  the 
College  buildings  some  idea  may  be  gained  from 
the  fact  that  there  were  fifteen  class-rooms,  twenty- 
six  rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  the  regents, 
domestics,  and  fifty-six  boarders.  For  the  junior 
pupils  there  was  a  distinct  building. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  case  of  the  colleges  of 
Paris  one  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  the  way  of  discip- 
line was  the  unsatisfactory  relation  between  principal 
and  regents.  As  things  were  arranged  in  these 
colleges,  the  regents  as  often  took  sides  with  the 
scholars  as  with  the  principal.  Gouvea  proved  his 
genius  as  an  administrator  by  putting  himself  on  a 
rational  footing  with  his  subordinates.  He  made  a 
point  of  treating  them  as  his  equals,  showed  no  favour 
to  one  more  than  to  another,  gave  each  the  right  of 
inspection  and  correction  throughout  the  College, 
and  took  all  of  them  into  council  in  the  work  of 
administration.  By  such  prudent  conduct  Gouvea 
attracted  the  most  distinguished  teachers  to  Bor- 
deaux, and  made  his  institution  the  most  celebrated 
of  its  kind  in  France.^ 

Which  of  the  ten  classes  was  committed  to 
Buchanan  is  not  known ;  but  his  duties  must 
have  consisted  simply  in  teaching  the  portion  of 
Latin  grammar,  and  in  reading  the  particular  Latin 
author,  assigned  to  his  class.  The  class-teaching 
ceased  at  five  in  the  afternoon  ;  but  each  regent  had 
his  own  set  of  internes  or  boarders,  whose  studies 

1  GauUieur,  p.  106.  ^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  238. 


BORDEAUX. 


Ill 


he  superintended  in  the  evening,  and  from  whom  he 
received  fees  in  addition  to  his  pubHc  salary. 
Among  his  boarders,  Buchanan  had  at  one  time  no 
less  famous  a  pupil  than  Montaigne.  The  subject 
of  Montaigne  and  his  tutors  has  been  a  standing 
puzzle  to  biographers.  In  the  famous  essay  in 
which  he  gives  an  account  of  his  early  education, 
he  names  as  his  precepteurs  domestiques  four  of 
the  leading  scholars  in  France — Nicolas  Grouchy, 
Guillaume  Guerente,  Marc-Antoine  Muret,  and 
Buchanan.  That  he  should  have  had  all  these 
scholars  in  succession  as  tutors  resident  in  his 
fathers  house  seemed  a  circumstance  demanding 
some  explanation.  A  late  writer  would  cut  this 
knot  in  a  fashion  somewhat  disrespectful  to  Mon- 
taigne. The  critics,"  he  says,  "  still  dispute  what 
this  \^precepteurs  dow£stiques\  means.  A  foreigner 
may  be  permitted  the  conjecture  that  the  form  of 
speech  called  gasconnade  has  been  employed  by 
Montaigne."^  The  same  phrase  has  misled  succes- 
sive biographers  to  suppose  that  Buchanan  at  some 
period  actually  resided  with  Montaigne  in  the 
country  in  the  capacity  of  private  tutor.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  college  arrangement  above  mentioned 
explains  the  difficulty  in  the  simplest  manner.  We 
know  that  all  the  four  scholars  named  by  Montaigne 
actually  taught  at  the  College  de  Guyenne.  When 
Montaigne,  therefore,  speaks  of  all  four  having  been 
his  precepteurs  domestiques,  or,  as  he  expresses  him- 
self elsewhere  in  the  same  essay,  precepteurs  de 
chambre,  all  that  he  meant  to  say  was  that  he  was 
an  interne  orboarder  with  each  of  them  in  succession, 
and  had  private  instruction  from  them  in  addition  to 

^  Mark  Pattison,  Essays,  vol.  i.  p.  126  (Clarendon  Press,  1889). 


112  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


his  lessons  in  the  regular  classes.  The  sentence  in 
Montaigne's  essay  above  referred  to  is  our  sole 
source  of  information  regarding  his  connection  with 
Buchanan.  There  is  consequently  no  ground 
whatever  for  the  commonly  received  statement  that 
Buchanan  lived  at  the  country-house  of  his  pupil.  ^ 

In  the  same  well-known  essay,  Montaigne  has 
given  us  some  interesting  notes  on  his  experiences 
at  the  College  de  Guyenne.  After  speaking  of  the 
excessive  care  his  father  had  taken  with  his  home 
education  he  proceeds  :  "  My  good  father  being  in  ex- 
treme dread  of  failure  in  that  which  he  had  so  much 
at  heart,  allowed  himself  to  be  won  over  to  common 
opinion,  which,  after  the  manner  of  cranes,  ever 
follows  those  who  go  before,  and  ranged  himself  on 
the  side  of  custom,  having  no  longer  with  him  those 
he  had  brought  from  Italy  for  my  early  education  ; 
and  sent  me,  when  I  was  about  six  years  of  age,  to  the 
College  de  Guienne,  very  flourishing  for  that  time, 
and  the  best  in  France ;  and  there  no  trouble  was 
enough  for  him  in  the  choosing  of  my  private  tutors, 
and  in  all  other  things  relating  to  my  comfort,  in 
which  he  made  several  stipulations  against  the  rules 
of  colleges  :  though,  all  the  same,  it  still  remained  a 
college."  In  another  part  of  the  same  essay  he 
speaks  of  Georges  Buchanan,  ce  grand  poete 
escossois".  It  will  be  remembered  that  by  his 
father's  novel  plan  of  education  Montaigne  had 
been  taught  from  infancy  to  speak  Latin  as  his 
mother  tongue.  When  he  went  to  the  College, 
therefore,  he  astonished  all  his  teachers  by  his 
fluency  in  that  language  ;  and  he  specially  mentions 

^  Irving  noted  this,  but  of  course  could  not  give  the  true  explana- 
tion.— Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  38  (note). 


BORDEAUX. 


113 


that  all  his  private  tutors,  and  Buchanan  among  the 
rest,  had  repeatedly  told  him  that  they  were  afraid 
to  accost  him  in  Latin.  As  this  mastery  of  the 
Latin  language  was  in  fact  what  all  the  humanists 
were  aiming  at,  Montaigne's  facility  would  seem 
greatly  to  have  impressed  Buchanan.  "  Buchanan," 
he  says,  "whom  I  met  afterwards  in  the  train  of 
the  Mareschal  de  Brissac,  told  me  that  he  had  the 
intention  of  writing  on  the  subject  of  the  education 
of  children,  and  that  he  took  mine  as  a  pattern  ;  for 
at  that  time  he  had  charge  of  the  Comte  de  Brissac, 
whom  we  have  seen  since  so  valorous  and  brave." 
As  we  shall  see,  Buchanan  did  afterwards  write  a 
work  designed  for  the  instruction  of  de  Brissac  ;  but 
neither  this  nor  any  other  of  his  productions  corre- 
sponds to  this  description  of  Montaigne.  Except  at 
these  two  periods,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that 
Buchanan  and  Montaigne  had  any  intercourse.  It 
is  perhaps  worth  mentioning,  however,  that  long 
afterwards,  in  a  letter  of  Killigrew  to  Cecil  in  1572, 
it  is  stated  that  a  translation  of  Buchanan's  famous 
Detectio  was  sent  to  "  one  Montaigne  of  Mont- 
pellier",  supposed  then  to  be  writing  The  Universal 
History  of  the  Time.  Probably  Montaigne  is  here 
confused  with  de  Thou.^ 

Another  notable  person  with  whom  Buchanan 
held  some  intercourse  during  his  stay  in  Bordeaux 
was  the  omniscient  swashbuckler,  Julius  Csesar 
Scaliger.  That  scholar  had  for  some  years  been 
settled  a,t  Agen,  some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  from 
Bordeaux,  in  the  capacity  of  physician  to  the 
bishop  of  the  place.    Here,  in  the  autumn  holidays 

^  Froude,  Histonj  of  England,  vol.  x.  p.  41  n.  Montaigne  quotes 
Franciscanus  in  his  Essais,  Liv.  iii,  chap.  x.  He  seems  also  to  have  read 
Buchanan's  History  of  Scotland.    Cf.  Essais,  Liv.  iii.  chap.  vii. 

H 


114 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  the  schools,  he  was  wont  to  receive  annual  visits 
from  the  regents  of  the  College  de  Guyenne.^ 
None  of  these  learned  visitors  seems  to  have  been 
more  acceptable  to  him  than  Buchanan,  and  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  complimentary  verses  inter- 
changed by  them,  the  esteem  seems  to  have  been 
mutual.  In  a  few  happily  turned  Hues,  Buchanan 
speaks  of  a  visit  paid  by  him  to  Agen.  The  roads 
were  all  but  impassable,  and  it  was  wintry  weather 
at  its  worst ;  but  amid  aU  the  discomforts  of  the 
journey  one  hope  cheers  "  him — he  will  enjoy 
Scaliger's  converse  at  its  end.  Unfortunately, 
Julius  is  absent,  and  even  after  five  days  he  does 
not  appear.  Buchanan  has  to  return  without  a 
sight  of  his  friend;  and  this  disappointment,  he 
concludes,  far  outweighs  all  the  toil  of  his  journey." 
Scaliger  replied  to  Buchanan  in  two  copies  of  verses 
by  no  means  so  happily  turned.  What  is  note- 
worthy in  Scaliger's  lines  to  Buchanan  is  the 
consciousness  they  express,  in  then*  strained  and 
clumsy  manner,  of  Buchanan's  unrivalled  skill  and 
genius  in  Latin  poetry.  Even  in  his  own  day, 
Scaliger's  taste  and  discernment  in  such  matters 
were  not  held  of  much  value,  yet  the  tone  of  these 
verses  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  striking  testi- 
mony to  the  impression  made  on  Scaliger  by 
Buchanan's  character  and  talent.  As  is  well  known, 
Scaliger,  with  all  his  prodigious  attainments,  was 
the  most  vainglorious  of  men.  His  life  was  a  cease- 
less wrangle  with  his  contemporaries,  and  in  his 
attacks  on  Erasmus  he  outdid  even  his  own  century 
in  the  downright  brutality  of  his  abuse.    With  such 

^  Jos.  Scaliger,  Be  Vetustate  et  Splendore  Gentis  Scaligerae. 
2  Epig.  i.  49. 


BORDEAUX. 


115 


a  man  we  should  hardly  have  expected  Buchanan, 
whose  own  temper  was  none  of  the  sweetest,  to 
have  put  himself  on  cordial  terms.  Scaliger  s 
admiration  of  Buchanan  was  shared  to  the  full  by 
his  greater  son.  The  highest  eulogy  that  has  been 
pronounced  on  Buchanan's  poetry  is  that  of  Joseph 
Scahger.  "  In  Latin  poetry,"  he  says,  "  Buchanan 
leaves  all  Europe  behind."^  And  in  his  elegy 
written  on  Buchanan  he  has  spoken  of  him  in  a 
manner  that  reminds  us  of  Landor  : — 

Namque  ad  supremum  perducta  Poetica  culmen 

In  te  stat,  nec  quo  progrediatur  habet. 
Imperii  fuerat  Romani  Scotia  limes  : 

Romani  eloquii  Scotia  finis  erit. 


^  Prima  Scaligeraria  (Cologne  1695),  p.  37:  "Buchananus  unus  est 
in  tota  Europa  omnes  post  se  relinquens  in  Latina  poesi." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


BORDEAUX — OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 

Buchanan's  position  in  the  school  at  Bordeaux  was 
that  of  a  subordinate,  and  to  the  end  he  never 
attained  to  the  highest  honours  of  his  profession 
on  the  Continent.  In  all  probability  such  a  posi- 
tion was  the  last  in  the  world  he  would  have 
desired.  Neither  by  his  temper  nor  his  genius 
was  he  fitted  for  the  work  of  a  Sturm  or  a 
Gouv^a.  A  certain  irresponsibility,  a  certain 
amount  of  leisure  for  his  own  pursuits,  perfect 
freedom  from  all  practical  cares — such  seems  to 
have  been  the  ideal  he  had  always  before  him ;  and 
this  is  but  to  say  that  he  was  the  scholar  and  man 
of  letters  in  the  first  place,  and  in  the  second  place 
a  teacher. 

But  although  by  his  official  position  he  was  only 
a  subordinate,  it  is  evident  that  he  was  a  marked 
man  among  his  fellows.  His  literary  gift  was 
recognised  from  the  first  as  unrivalled.  In  the 
case  of  a  great  institution  like  the  College  de 
Guyenne,  occasions  were  continually  arising  when 
it  had  to  address  great  personages  either  in  its 
own  interest  or  in  the  discharge  of  its  necessary 

116 


OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 


117 


functions.  On  such  occasions,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  specimens  in  his  collected  works,  Buchanan  was 
frequently  called  upon  to  exercise  his  talent.  Thus 
he  had  not  long  been  in  Bordeaux  when  there 
came  to  the  city  the  most  distinguished  guest  it 
had  ever  had  the  privilege  to  entertain.  This  was 
no  less  a  personage  than  the  Emperor  Charles  v., 
on  his  famous  journey  through  France,  by  the 
romantic  permission  of  its  king,  to  suppress  the 
insurrection  of  the  burghers  of  Ghent.  Bordeaux 
with  all  its  institutions  did  its  best  to  show  all 
honour  to  its  august  visitor  ;  and  on  the  part  of  the 
College  a  Latin  poem  by  Buchanan  was  presented 
to  the  Emperor.^  This  poem  has  all  the  character 
of  a  set  performance,  and  is  interesting  simply  as  a 
proof  that  when  his  colleagues  wished  to  give  col- 
lective expression  to  their  desires,  they  naturally 
looked  to  Buchanan  as  their  exponent.  On  another 
occasion,  when  the  finances  of  the  College  were  not 
quite  satisfactory,  it  occurred  to  Gouvea  that  a 
poetical  address  to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Kingdom, 
known  as  a  generous  patron  of  letters,  might  bring 
some  advantage  to  him.  Buchanan  was  again 
appealed  to ;  and  a  historian  of  Bordeaux  thus 
tells  us  of  the  manner  in  which  he  responded : 
"  Buchanan,"  he  says,  "  performed  his  task  with 
elegance,  but  above  all  with  nettete.  Quite  con- 
vinced of  his  own  merit  and  that  of  his  friends,  he 
made  use  of  no  idle  flatteries,  but  simply  put  the 
question  to  the  Chancellor  if  they  might  count  on 
his  support,  adding  with  dignity  that  the  Muses 
of  Aquitaine,  thus  abandoned,  could  easily  retreat 

^  Silvae,  i.  "  Ad  Carolum  v.  Imperatorem,  Burdegalae  hospitio  publico 
susceptum,  nomine  Scholae  Burdegalensis,  anno  md.xxxix." 


118  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


elsewhere,  certain  as  they  were  to  find  an  asylum 
wherever  they  might  betake  themselves."  ^ 

Besides  these  performances  executed  to  order, 
Buchanan,  as  was  his  habit  till  his  most  advanced 
years,  threw  off  many  shorter  pieces  at  this  time, 
which  doubtless  passed  from  hand  to  hand  among 
the  congenial  spirits  of  the  city.  Only  two  of  these 
pieces  call  for  particular  notice  as  making  an  essen- 
tial part  of  his  biography.  The  brothers  of  St. 
Antony  at  Bordeaux  enjoyed  the  curious  privilege 
of  having  two  pigs  sent  into  the  town  free  of  toU.^ 
The  brothers,  it  would  appear,  somewhat  strained 
their  privilege,  and  their  convent  came  to  be 
literally  peopled  with  pigs.  The  magistrates 
having  learned  that  the  pious  community  made 
a  regular  trade  in  these  animals,  had  more  than 
once  endeavoured  to  put  a  stop  to  the  trafiic.  This 
was  an  occasion  and  a  theme  after  Buchanan's  own 
heart,  and  he  accordingly  launched  the  following 
epigram  :  When  alive,  Antony,  you  are  said  to 
have  been  a  feeder  of  swine  ;  now,  when  dead,  you 
feed  monks.  Both,  in  truth,  have  the  same  brains 
and  the  same  stomach,  the  same  delight  in  filth  and 
gluttony.  In  everything  they  are  alike,  save  one ; 
but  therein  lies  a  grievous  blunder.  Acorns  should 
be  the  food  of  your  monks  as  well  as  of  your  swine. 

The  other  poem  is  one  which  not  only,  like  the 
above,  reveals  the  spirit  and  temper  of  Buchanan — 
it  is  a  poem  which  better  than  volumes  of  history 
reveals  to  us  the  attitude  begotten  in  the  men  of 
Buchanan's  day  by  the  progress  of  humanism.* 

1  Dezeimeris,  De  la  Renaissance  des  Lettres  a  Bordeaux. 
^  GauUieur,  p.  142.  ^  Fratres  Fraterrimi,  xxii. 

*  Fleg.  iii.  "  Ad  Briandum  Vallium,  Senatorem  Burdegal.,  pro  Lena 
apologia." 


OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES.  119 

The  poem  has  been  a  puzzle  to  Buchanan's  bio- 
graphers, who  have  wished  to  make  of  him  an 
ardent  reformer  from  the  beginning.  From  its 
nature  it  cannot  be  analysed  here  ;  but  its  title 
is  sufficient  to  indicate  its  purport.  It  is,  of 
course,  a  mere  jeu  dJ esprit ;  but  it  is  a  jeit  dJ esprit 
which  puts  beyond  question  how  much  more,  at 
this  period  of  his  life  at  least,  Buchanan  was  the 
humanist  than  the  reformer.  The  point  of  view  of 
the  poem  is  one  which  essentially  implies  the  ironic 
and  not  the  theological  view  of  life  ;  and  it  would 
argue  complete  unacquaintance  with  the  spirit  of 
his  age  to  draw  from  such  a  poem  any  injurious 
conclusions  as  to  Buchanan's  own  manner  of  life. 
All  that  we  are  justified  in  inferring  from  such 
effusions  of  the  humanists  is  that  they  claimed  for 
themselves  a  licence  of  thought  and  speech  over  the 
whole  of  human  experience  which  men  of  another  type 
deem  it  wiser  to  renounce.  It  throws  still  further 
light  on  this  strange  time  when  we  learn  that  the 
person  to  whom  Buchanan  addresses  this  remark- 
able poem,  Briand  de  Vallee,  was  a  councillor  of  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux,  that  it  was  he  who  founded 
the  monthly  lecture  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and 
that  Babelais,  who  counted  him  one  of  his  best 
friends,  could  speak  of  him  as  the  '''tant  bon,  tant 
vertueux,  tant  docte,  et  equitable  president  Briand 
de  Vallee".^ 

Buchanan  found  further  scope  for  his  literary 
faculty  in  a  practice  which  Gouvea  seems  to  have 
established  in  his  school.  It  was  expected  of  the 
regents  (possibly  only  of  those  who  had  charge 
of  the  advanced  classes)  that  they  should  each 

^  Rabelais,  Liv.  iv.  chap,  xxxvii. 


120 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


write  a  Latin  play  every  year  for  representation 
by  the  boys/  This  practice  was  encouraged  for 
two  reasons.  It  gave  the  pupils  that  facility  in 
Latin  which  was  the  grand  aim  of  the  entire 
curriculum  of  the  school.  Secondly — and  this 
is  the  reason  given  by  Buchanan  himself — these 
Latin  plays,  being  imitations  of  classical  models, 
served  to  wean  the  taste  of  the  scholars  from  the 
absurdities  of  the  mediaeval  mysteries,  in  which,  as 
he  tells  us,  the  French  above  all  nations  then  took 
especial  delight.^  It  was  to  be  expected  that  the 
humanists,  who  had  come  to  know  from  antiquity 
what  the  drama  might  be  made,  should  regard  with 
disgust  these  monstrous  exhibitions,  which  in  many 
cases  appealed  to  the  basest  passions  of  the  mob. 
That  there  was  real  ground  for  this  feeling  on  their 
part  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  1547  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  was  constrained  to  suppress,  by  reason 
of  the  excess  of  their  buffoonery,  "all  mysteries  of 
the  Passion,  or  other  sacred  mysteries  ".^  Moreover, 
the  very  language  in  which  the  actors  in  these 
mysteries  spoke  must  have  been  hateful  to  ears 
which  found  offence  in  every  vernacular.  The 
Italian  scholars  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of 
writing  plays  in  imitation  of  the  ancients ;  and  in 
Germany,  towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
Heuchlin  had  produced  Latin  plays  which  were 
represented  by  the  students  of  Heidelberg.  In 
England,  also,  somewhat  later,  Nicolas  Udall 
wrote  Latin  plays  to  be  acted  by  his  boys  at 
Eton  during  the  long  winter  nights.* 

^  Spist.  xxvii.  Vita  Sua. 

2  Hallam,  Lit  of  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  430. 
*  Ibid.  p.  433. 


OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 


121 


In  his  performance  of  this  task  Buchanan  wrote 
in  all  four  plays  during  his  stay  in  Bordeaux.  Two 
of  these  plays  were  merely  translations  of  the  Medea 
and  Alcestis  of  Euripides,  a  poet  for  whom  Buchanan 
seems  to  have  shared  all  the  admiration  of  Milton. 
In  the  case  of  the  Medea,  he  says  (and  the  fact  is 
interesting  as  bearing  on  the  knowledge  of  Greek 
possessed  by  scholars  of  Buchanan's  standing)  that 
he  did  not  write  it  with  a  view  to  publication,  but 
that  in  setting  himself  to  learn  Greek  without  a 
master,  he  might  in  the  process  of  translation  weigh 
more  carefully  the  meaning  of  each  word.^  Of  his 
two  original  dramas,  Jephthes  and  Baptistes,  the 
former,  as  he  himself  justly  thought,  is  undoubtedly 
much  the  more  striking  dramatic  performance.  The 
story  of  Jephthah  and  his  daughter  is  clearly  one 
which  presents  all  the  materials  for  tragedy  of  the 
highest  order  ;  and  Buchanan,  shackled  though  he 
is  by  conventional  forms  and  a  dead  language,  has 
certainly  risen  to  the  greatness  of  his  theme.  His 
conception  of  Jephthah  and  his  daughter  Iphis  is 
indeed  quite  Miltonic  in  intensity  and  elevation. 
But  here,  again,  we  can  but  express  regret  that 
there  should  have  been  lost  to  Buchanan's  native 
literature  a  talent  which  even  under  such  untoward 
conditions  could  achieve  so  much. 

But  if  his  Jephthes  be  the  greater  drama,  Bap- 
tistes  is  much  the  more  interesting  in  its  bearing 
on  the  poet's  character  and  opinions.  Of  all  his 
writings  up  to  this  date,  this  drama  is  the  one 
which  most  clearly  indicates  Buchanan's  leanings 
in  politics  and  religion.  It  is  always  hazardous  to 
draw  dogmatic  conclusions  from  so  impersonal  a 

^  Epist.  xxvii. 


122 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


production  as  a  drama.  In  the  case  of  the  Bap- 
tistes,  however,  the  choice  of  subject  is  so  significant, 
its  bearing  on  the  questions  of  Buchanan  s  own 
day  is  so  obtrusive,  that  we  seem  justified  in  in- 
ferring that  its  leading  sentiments  express  the 
strong  leanings  of  the  writer.  Strictly  speaking, 
indeed,  the  piece  is  hardly  a  drama  at  all,  but 
simply  a  series  of  dialogues  which  naturally  end 
with  the  death  of  the  Baptist.  There  is  no  attempt 
at  a  plot,  and  there  is  not  a  single  dramatic  incident. 
Its  interest  for  those  for  whom  it  was  written  must 
have  lain  simply  in  the  sentiments  of  the  dialogues, 
and  the  persons  with  whom  these  sentiments  might 
be  identified.  If  the  piece  was  actually  represented, 
the  spectators  could  have  had  little  difficulty  in 
finding  modern  representatives  for  all  its  leading 
personages.  John  the  Baptist  himself,  who  is  for 
laying  the  axe  to  the  very  root  of  Jewish  tradition, 
is  the  unmistakable  prototype  of  any  fiery  refor- 
mer (Berquin,  for  example),  who  in  Buchanan's  own 
day  would  be  content  witii  nothing  less  than  a 
return  to  the  ante -papal  Church  of  the  first  cen- 
turies. Malchus,  the  high  priest,  who  is  the  intoler- 
ant upholder  of  tradition  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth,  who  insists  on  finding  in  every  novel  reli- 
gious doctrine  an  attack  on  the  State  no  less  than 
on  the  Church,  and  who  has  no  mercy  in  his  dealings 
with  what  he  deems  heresy,  undoubtedly  stood  in 
Buchanan's  mind  for  his  own  relentless  pursuer. 
Cardinal  Beaton.  The  people  of  Bordeaux,  how- 
ever, would  see  in  Malchus  a  personage  nearer 
home,  their  own  Archbishop,  Charles  de  Grammont, 
as  keen  a  hunter  of  heresy  as  Beaton,  and  who,  as 
we  shall  presently  see,  had  his  eyes  on  Buchanan 


OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 


123 


himself/  Herod,  with  his  temporising  policy  to- 
wards the  Baptist,  could  hardly  but  suggest 
Francis  i/s  past  attitude  towards  the  religious 
diificulties  of  the  day ;  and  Herod's  final  surrender 
of  John  might  with  no  excess  of  ingenuity  have 
found  its  modern  application  in  Francis's  surrender 
of  Berquin.  To  those  whose  sympathy  went  with 
reform  in  religion,  Herodias  the  queen,  with  her 
overweening  notions  of  the  royal  prerogative  and 
her  detestation  of  all  religious  novelties,  must  have 
seemed  the  true  prototype  of  Louise  of  Savoy,  the 
Queen-mother,  who  since  the  beginning  of  the 
religious  troubles  had  stood  by  Beda  and  the  Sor- 
bonne  in  their  most  intolerant  action. 

It  seems  hardly  possible  that  such  a  play  could 
have  been  represented  at  Bordeaux  at  this  period. 
Gouvea  himself,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was  an 
orthodox  Catholic,  and  held  several  benefices  in  the 
Church.  It  is  not  likely,  therefore,  that  he  would 
permit  his  scholars  to  make  acquaintance  with  a 
production  which  so  plainly  inculcated  the  most 
revolutionary  opinions  in  matters  of  State  and 
Religion.  Moreover,  in  Bordeaux  for  some  years 
past,  a  genuine  alarm  had  arisen  at  the  spread  of 
heresy  in  its  midst.  So  early  as  1525  persecution 
on  account  of  religion  had  begun  in  the  town ;  and 
in  1534  the  principal  and  regents  had  been  sum- 
moned before  the  Parliament  to  render  account  of 
the  fact  that  books  of  a  heretical  tendency  had  been 
found  within  the  walls  of  the  College.^  About  the 
very  time  Baptistes  may  have  been  written  (1541), 
the  first  burning  for  heresy  in  Bordeaux  took  place. 
If  we  remember  also  that  the  eyes  of  the  Archbishop 

1  Gaullieur,  p.  163.  2  jj^-^^^  153^ 


124 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


were  continually  on  the  school,  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  the  play  was  actually  put  on  the  stage 
by  Gouvea.  That  certain  of  Buchanan's  dramas  were 
represented  we  have  the  conclusive  testimony  of 
Montaigne,  who  expressly  tells  us  "  that  he  played 
the  chief  parts  in  the  Latin  tragedies  of  Buchanan, 
Guerente,  and  Muret,  which  were  represented  in 
the  College  of  Guienne  with  dignity".^ 

The  Baptistes  is,  in  truth,  but  the  poetical 
draft  of  his  famous  tract  De  Jure  Regni  apud 
Scotos,  whose  publication  long  afterwards  made  him 
known  to  Europe  as  a  political  revolutionary.  In 
1576  Buchanan  dedicated  this  drama  to  King 
James  in  a  characteristic  letter.  "  This  little  book," 
he  tells  his  Majesty,  "  must  seem  to  have  a  peculiar 
interest  for  yourself,  inasmuch  as  it  sets  before  you 
in  the  clearest  manner  what  torments  and  miseries 
tyrants  endure,  even  when  they  appear  to  be  most 
prosperous.  And  this  lesson  I  deem  not  merely 
beneficial,  but  absolutely  necessary  for  you,  so  that 
you  may  early  begin  to  detest  what  it  must  be 
always  your  duty  to  avoid.  Moreover,  I  wish  my 
book  to  be  a  standing  witness  with  posterity  that 
not  with  your  teachers  ^  but  yourself  rested  the 
fault,  if  impelled  by  evil  counsellors  or  your  own 
undue  desire  of  power,  you  should  ever  depart  from 
the  lessons  you  have  received." 

Long  afterwards,  in  the  critical  year  1642,  a 
translation  of  the  Baptistes  was  published  under  the 
suggestive  title,  Tyrannical  Government  Anato- 
mised :  being  the  Life  and  Death  of  J ohn  the 

^  Montaigne,  Essais,  Liv.  i.  ch,  xxv. 

-  At  the  time  the  dedication  was  written  Buchanan  was  acting  as 
tutor  to  James. 


OCCASIONAL  POEMS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 


125 


Baptist."  By  one  of  his  editors  this  translation 
was  assigned  to  no  less  a  person  than  Milton.  We 
know  that  Milton  read  and  admired  Buchanan, 
but  this  translation  is  not  his.^  Yet  the  whole 
drift  of  the  drama  is  such  as  would  meet  Milton  s 
most  ardent  approval.  To  the  religious  and  political 
situation  of  1642  it  had  an  even  more  piquant  ap- 
plication than  to  the  circumstances  of  the  time  at 
which  it  was  written.  No  Puritan  reader  could  fail 
to  see  Charles  i.  in  Herod,  Laud  in  Malchus,  and 
Henrietta  Maria  in  Herodias. 

During  his  three  years'  sojourn  in  Bordeaux 
Buchanan  had  never  been  without  uneasiness  from 
the  action  of  Cardinal  Beaton  and  the  Franciscans. 
Beaton,  indeed,  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  write  a 
letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  urging  him  to 
have  Buchanan  arrested  as  a  heretic.  Fortunately 
the  letter  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  certain  of 
Buchanan's  most  attached  friends,  who  put  him  on 
his  guard.  The  death  of  James  v.  in  1542  gave 
Beaton  other  matters  to  think  of  than  the  heresies 
of  Buchanan,  and  a  plague  that  devastated  Aqui- 
taine  diverted  the  thoughts  of  his  persecutors  in 
Bordeaux.  At  the  end  of  1542,  or  the  beginning 
of  1543,  Buchanan  left  that  city,  though  for  what 
reason  has  not  been  clearly  ascertained.^ 

^  Professor  Masson  assures  me  of  this. 

2  There  is  nothing  in  the  records  of  the  College  de  Guyenne  to  indi- 
cate when  or  why  Buchanan  left  Bordeaux.  Buchanan's  mention  of  the 
plague  does  not  help  us,  since  such  plagues  were  then  of  common  occur- 
rence. We  must  therefore  fall  back  on  his  own  statement  that  he 
spent  three  years  in  Bordeaux.  As  we  can  fix  the  date  of  his  arrival  in 
that  city,  we  infer  that  he  must  have  left  it  either  at  the  end  of  1542  or 
the  beginning  of  1543.  It  has  been  shown  above  that  there  is  absolutely 
no  ground  for  supposing  that  on  his  departure  from  Bordeaux  Buchanan 
went  to  reside  with  Montaigne  in  the  country. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


PARIS  PORTUGAL. 

1542-1552. 

In  1542,  or  possibly  1543,  therefore,  Buchanan  left 
Bordeaux,  and  from  this  date  till  his  journey  to 
Portugal  in  1547,  we  all  but  lose  sight  of  him.  In 
his  own  account  of  his  life  he  ignores  these  years 
altogether.  The  true  inference  from  his  silence 
seems  to  be  that  during  this  period  he  held  no  per- 
manent appointment.  The  blank,  however,  is  partly 
made  up  to  us  by  a  poem  belonging  to  this  time, 
which  is  noteworthy  as  being  the  most  minutely 
personal  of  all  his  productions,  and  which  clearly 
reveals  to  us  what  it  was  in  Buchanan  that  gained 
for  him  the  affectionate  reverence  of  his  friends. 
This  poem  bears  the  date  1544,  and  from  certain  of  its 
references  we  gather  that  when  he  wrote  it  Buchanan 
was  once  more  back  in  Paris.  As  it  happens,  this 
exactly  tallies  with  two  other  testimonies  ^  to  the 
effect  that  along  with  two  other  scholars  of  the 
first  order,  Turnebe  and  Muret,  he  taught  at  this 
date  in  the  College  du  Cardinal  Lemoine.^ 

^  Moreri  states  that  Buchanan,  Turnebe,  and  Muret  taught  in  the 
College  du  Cardinal  Lemoine  at  the  same  time.  If  they  did  so,  it  could 
only  have  been  about  1546.  Nicole  Bourbon  assured  Menage  of  the 
same  circumstance  ( Anti-Baillet,  tom.  i.  p.  328).  But  M.  Dejob 
(Appendice  A  to  his  Vie  de  Muret)  is  disposed  to  think  that  Muret,  at 
least,  could  not  have  been  in  Paris  at  that  date. 

^  Jourdain,  Excursions  Histoo-iques,  chap.  xii. 

126 


PARIS. 


127 


Unfortunately  the  records  of  this  College  are  so 
defective  that  no  satisfactory  account  of  it  is  possible 
as  in  the  case  of  Ste.  Barbe.  Founded  in  1302 
by  Cardinal  Jean  Lemoine,  with  provision  for  only 
three  students  of  arts  and  four  of  theology,  by  the 
sixteenth  century  it  had  taken  rank  with  the  first  of 
the  Colleges  of  Paris.  It  had  been  founded  mainly 
to  favour  the  study  of  theology,  but  from  the 
beginning  special  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
Arts  course,  and  in  time  it  had  come  to  be  a 
college  de  plein  exercice.  By  the  sixteenth  century 
it  was  one  of  the  schools  in  Paris  that  opened 
their  doors  most  readily  to  the  new  studies.  In 
1528  it  took  what  even  at  that  date  was  the 
revolutionary  step  of  instituting  a  course  of  Greek ; 
and  it  is  perhaps  worth  noting  that  Bonchamp,  the 
regent  who  taught  it,  had  as  one  of  his  pupils 
Jacques  Amyot,  so  interesting  in  the  history  of 
literature  as  the  translator  of  Plutarch.  This  liberal 
spirit  in  the  College  du  Cardinal  Lemoine  explains 
how  Buchanan,  now  so  well  known  for  his  zeal  for 
the  new  studies,  found  a  place  there.  In  the  large 
majority  of  the  Paris  colleges  he  would  certainly 
have  been  the  last  man  to  be  admitted  within  their 
walls. 

The  elegy  above  mentioned  is  entitled,  Ad 
Ptolemaeum  Luxium  Tastaeum  et  Jacobum  Tevium, 
cum  articulari  morbo  laboraret."  Both  of  these 
scholars  had  been  among  Buchanan's  most  intimate 
friends  at  Bordeaux ;  and  to  the  former  he  has  ad- 
dressed a  special  poem,  which  proves  that  the  very 
closest  relation  existed  between  them.^  The  second, 
de  Teyve,  had  been  one  of  Buchanan's  colleagues  at 

^  Silvae,  ii. 


128  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

Bordeaux,  and  he  afterwards  made  one  of  that  re- 
markable band  of  scholars  who  accompanied  Andre 
de  Gouvea  to  Portugal.  As  the  title  indicates,  the 
poem  was  written  in  illness — illness  so  severe,  indeed, 
that  he  seems  to  have  had  grave  doubts  as  to  his 
ultimate  recovery.  One  half  of  the  poem  is  taken 
up  with  the  account  of  his  "  case  "  ;  and  if  we  may- 
draw  definite  conclusions  from  its  poetical  exaggera- 
tions, he  must  have  been  suffering  from  a  singular 
complexity  of  ailments — gout,  dropsy,  asthma,  and 
racking  cough.  After  he  has  given  this  vivid  pic- 
ture of  the  state  to  which  he  is  reduced,  he  turns  to 
his  friends,  and  addresses  them  in  words  which  put 
us  in  closer  touch  with  the  man  Buchanan  than  almost 
any  other  piece  of  writing  he  has  left  us.  They  are 
emphatically  the  words  of  one  to  whom  friendship  is 
a  necessity,  and  who  had  that  unbounded  confidence 
in  the  afiection  of  his  friends  which  begets  enthu- 
siasm. "  Such,"  he  proceeds,  "  are  the  dire  images 
of  death  and  death-bringing  want  that  visit  me. 
Nor  by  my  side  have  I  my  Tastaeus  and  Tevius, 
whose  pleasant  converse  would  make  the  long  day 
short.  Neither  is  my  sick  heart  refreshed  by  the 
learning  and  eloquence  of  my  other  friends  of  the 
Gascon  school.  Yet  amid  all  my  ills  tried  friends 
have  not  wholly  deserted  me.  Often  GroscoUius 
expounds  to  me  the  virtues  of  his  herbs,  and  helps 
to  cheer  me  by  his  kind  counsel.  Often  the  skill 
and  experience  of  Carolus  Stephanus  ^  brings  relief 
to  my  suffering.  Turnebus,  that  pride  of  the  Muses, 
suffers  not  a  day  to  pass  without  the  offices  of  friend- 
ship. And  though  other  blessings  fail  me,  the  pious 
care  of  my  comrade  Gelida  supplies  the  place  of 

*  One  of  the  notable  family  of  the  Estiennes. 


PARIS. 


129 


father  and  fatherland  ahke.  While  it  is  day,  my 
lot  is  thus  made  light.  With  the  coming  of  night 
an  army  of  cares  raise  their  sighs  around  me,  and  a 
thousand  shapes  haunt  my  dreams.  In  the  silence 
of  the  darkness  your  forms  come  before  me,  and 
make  the  night-watches  short  with  beguiling  words. 
Yet,  though  vain  and  all  too  brief  is  this  delight,  'tis 
sweet  even  thus  to  know  the  presence  of  those  we 
love.  Perchance,  also,  in  the  dreams  of  the  night, 
I  may,  ghost-like,  stand  by  your  couch,  and  in  words 
mingled  with  sighs  bewail  the  hardness  of  my  un- 
toward lot.  And  ye,  dreams,  sweetest  pledges  of 
the  night,  let  not  grief  for  me  touch  my  absent 
friends ;  alone  let  me  bear  the  burden  of  my  fate. 
But  if  inexorable  doom  shall  move  me  hence  before 
my  day,  late  may  the  tale  reach  the  ears  of  my 
Tastaeus  and  Tevius.  And  ye,  of  one  mind  and  one 
soul,  cease  from  tears,  and  grieve  me  not  with 
your  lament  when  I  am  gone." 

Buchanan  was  now  on  the  verge  of  his  fortieth 
year,  yet  he  was  still  as  far  as  ever  from  a  settled  posi- 
tion in  life.  With  his  advancing  years  and  uncertain 
health,  homeless  and  an  exile,  he  must  needs  have 
had  gloomy  hours  at  the  thought  of  his  probable 
future.  As  far  as  is  known,  he  never  seems  to  have 
thought  of  marriage.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  till  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
marriage  was  discountenanced  among  the  members 
of  the  lay  faculties  of  law,  medicine,  and  arts.  It 
was  not  till  1598,  indeed,  that  doctors  of  law  in  the 
University  of  Paris  were  permitted  to  marry,  the 
privilege  being  granted  on  the  ground  that  so  few 
Churchmen  then  thought  of  studying  law.^  Only 

^  Crevier,  Histoire  de  V  Universitd  de  Paris^  vol.  vii.  p.  84. 
I 


130 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


in  1576  were  Masters  of  Arts  who  were  married 
allowed  to  teach  in  the  University.^  What  shows 
also  that  a  strong  prejudice  against  marriage  existed 
in  the  Faculty  itself  is  that  it  actually  passed  a 
decree  in  1588  excluding  married  men  from  the 
right  of  voting  in  their  Nations.^  This  objection 
to  the  marriage  of  public  teachers  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  so  strong  in  the  provinces.^ 

As  we  gather  from  a  poem  written  afterwards 
in  Portugal,  Buchanan  must  have  left  Paris  not 
later  than  1545.*  How  or  where  he  spent  the  next 
three  years  has  not  been  discovered.^  When  next 
we  hear  of  him  it  is  again  in  connection  with  the 
great  principal,  Andre  de  Gouvea,  who  in  response 
to  an  invitation,  or  rather  command,  of  John  iii., 
in  1547  set  out  for  Portugal  to  take  the  temporary 
superintendence  of  a  new  college  in  connection 
with  the  lately  founded  University  of  Coimbra. 
John,  it  appears,  had  very  greatly  at  heart  the 
success  of  the  new  institution.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  every  detail  in  the 
working  of  the  various  colleges  of  the  University, 
and  that  he  knew  all  the  students  by  name.  Coim- 
bra had  been  the  original  seat  of  the  University, 
but  in  1377  it  had  been  tranf erred  to  Lisbon.  John 
had  restored  it  to  its  original  seat  with  the  inten- 

^  Crevier,  vi.  331.  2  j^^^^  yi  400. 

3  "  Uxorem  ducere,  extra  Lutetiam,  in  omnibus  omnium  civitatum 
scholis  probatissimum  est," — Gelidae  Epistolae  xv.,  quoted  by  Gaullieur, 
p.  191. 

*  Silvae,  iii.  In  this  poem,  entitled  "Desiderium  Lutetiae",  he 
states  that  he  has  not  seen  Paris  for  seven  years.  As  this  poem  bears 
evidence  that  it  was  written  in  Portugal,  and  Buchanan  left  that  country 
in  1552,  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  in  the  text. 

^  In  his  History  fp.  11)  Buchanan  casually  mentions  that  he  was  in 
Toulouse  in  1544.  With  the  kind  assistance  of  several  French  scholars 
I  have  made  many  attempts  to  come  upon  traces  of  Buchanan  during 
this  period,  but  with  no  success. 


PORTUGAL. 


131 


tion  that,  started  in  a  new  career,  it  should  make 
an  era  in  the  history  of  his  kingdom.  With  such  a 
scheme  in  his  mind,  he  could  not  but  think  of  the 
Portuguese  Gouvea,  whose  capacity  as  an  adminis- 
trator had  made  the  success  of  the  College  de 
Guyenne.  So  early  as  1543,  indeed,  John  had  been 
in  communication  with  him  regarding  the  new 
College,  and  before  his  present  journey  Gouvda  had 
already  made  two  visits  to  Portugal  in  connection 
with  the  same  object. 

The  next  five  years  of  Buchanan  s  life  were 
spent  in  Portugal ;  and  from  the  fact  that  out  of  the 
five  pages  that  make  his  autobiography  two  are 
devoted  to  the  story  of  these  years,  it  would  seem 
that  he  regarded  them  as  the  most  remarkable  in 
his  life.  He  had  certainly  excellent  reason  for 
thinkinof  so.  The  whole  character  of  this  enter- 
prise  of  Gouvea,  so  completely  in  the  spirit  of 
humanism  ;  the  signal  miscarriage  of  its  main  object, 
the  distinction  of  the  scholars  engaged  in  it,  the 
ill-fortune  of  most  of  them ;  above  all,  Buchanan's 
own  unhappy  experiences — all  this  must  have 
made  him  look  back  on  those  years  as  the  most 
memorable  passage  in  his  history. 

When  Gouvea  proposed  to  Buchanan  to  make 
one  of  the  band  of  scholars  about  to  proceed  to 
Coimbra  under  his  direction,  he  readily  assented. 
France,  he  tells  us,  was  fast  becoming  an  impossible 
place  for  men  of  peaceful  inclinations.  All  Europe 
was  either  already  ablaze  with  war,  or  at  least 
would  soon  be  so.  Moreover,  it  was  not  as  if  he 
were  going  forth  alone  into  a  strange  land.  There 
would  be  those  with  him,  de  Teyve  and  £lie  Vinet 
in  the  number,  who  had  for  years  been  his  very 


132  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


closest  friends.  Altogether,  the  prospects  of  the 
expedition  seemed  so  alluring  that  Buchanan 
thought  himself  justified^  in  persuading  his  brother, 
Patrick,  to  make  one  of  the  company.  It  was 
towards  the  end  of  March  1547 — almost,  therefore, 
on  the  very  day  of  the  death  of  Francis  i. — that 
Gouvea  and  his  band  of  scholars  sailed  from  Bor- 
deaux for  Coimbra.^ 

The  institution  founded  by  Gouvea  and  his  staff 
was  named  the  College  of  Arts.  The  idea  of  the 
King  was  to  put  this  College  on  a  level  with  the 
College  de  Guyenne,  and  the  best  colleges  of  Paris, 
and  so  render  it  unnecessary  for  the  Portuguese 
youth  to  leave  the  kingdom  for  higher  education. 
With  Gouvea  as  principal,  supported  by  the  bril- 
liant scholars  he  had  brought  with  him,  John  made 
sure  that  everything  must  turn  out  to  his  wish. 
And  so  at  the  outset  it  seemed.  Under  Gouvea's 
management  the  new  institution  was  launched 
with  the  happiest  auspices ;  .but  before  the  year 
was  out  Gouvea  died,  and  his  death,  as  it  proved, 
sealed  the  fate  of  the  College. 

The  new  College,  with  its  foreign  colony  of 
humanists,  had  been  especially  hateful  to  the 
Jesuits,  who  had  by  this  period  secured  a  firm  foot- 
ing in  Portugal.  Simon  Eodrigues,  the  celebrated 
associate  of  Loyola,  had  gained  the  most  absolute 
ascendency  over  the  mind  of  King  John  ;  and,  on 
the  death  of  Gouvea,  all  his  arts  were  directed 
towards  the  acquisition  of  the  College  for  his  com- 
pany.^ The  usual  weapons  were  brought  into  play. 
Secretly  and  publicly  charges  of  heresy  were  ad- 

1  Vita  Sua.  Gaullieur,  p.  206. 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  241. 


PORTUGAL. 


133 


duced  against  Gouvda's  companions.  First,  three 
were  thrown  into  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  only  after  long  confinement  were  brought  to 
trial.  The  trial  was  a  mere  pretence,  the  accusers 
not  even  being  named  ;  and  they  were  again  sent 
to  their  dungeons.^  With  such  weapons  at  their 
disposal,  the  Jesuits  had  not  long  to  wait  the 
attainment  of  their  end.  One  morning  the  Provin- 
cial of  their  Order  presented  himself  at  the  gate  of 
the  College  of  Arts  with  a  signed  order.  The  order 
came  from  the  King,  and  it  bore  that  thencefor- 
ward the  College  was  under  the  absolute  control  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus. ^ 

It  seems  to  have  gone  harder  with  Buchanan 
than  with  the  rest  of  his  colleagues.  But  as  his 
own  account  of  his  adventures  is  the  only  one  we 
possess,  it  is  best  that  we  should  here  listen  to  his 
own  words  :  "It  was  on  Buchanan,  as  a  foreigner, 
with  very  few  friends  either  to  take  pleasure  in  his 
safety,  to  grieve  at  his  misfortune,  or  avenge  his 
wrongs,  that  they  heaped  the  greatest  insults  and 
injuries.  His  poem  against  the  Franciscans  was 
made  a  charge  against  him  ;  yet  before  he  left 
France  he  had  stipulated  with  the  King  of  Portugal 
that  this  offence  should  be  overlooked.  Moreover, 
his  accusers  were  really  unacquainted  with  the 
nature  of  that  satire,  as  the  one  copy  of  it  had  been 
given  to  the  King  of  Scots,  at  whose  instance  it 
had  been  written.  He  was  accused  of  having  eaten 
flesh  in  Lent,  which,  in  fact,  every  one  in  Spain 
does ;  and  it  was  urged  against  him  that  he  had  made 
certain  injurious  reflections  regarding  the  monks,  in 
which,  indeed,  none  but  a  monk  could  have  found 

^  Quicherat,  vol.  i.  p.  241.  2  JH^^ 


134  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


offence.  But  what  gave  rise  to  the  bitterest  feel- 
ings against  him  was  that  in  a  certain  confidential 
conversation  with  some  young  Portuguese,  when 
the  subject  of  the  Eucharist  came  up  for  discussion, 
he  had  affirmed  that  Augustine  was  far  more  with 
the  heretics  than  the  Church  in  his  teaching  on  that 
subject.  Jean  Talpin,  a  native  of  Normandy,  and 
Joannes  Ferrerius,^  a  native  of  Liguria,  gave  evid- 
ence, as  he  learned  long  afterwards,  that  they  had 
it  on  the  most  trustworthy  authority  that  at  heart 
Buchanan  was  no  good  Catholic.  But  to  be  brief : — 
After  the  inquisitors  for  a  year  and  a  half  had  worn 
out  his  and  their  own  patience,  lest  they  should  be 
supposed  to  have  persecuted  to  no  purpose  one  not 
altogether  unknown  to  fame,  they  shut  him  up  for 
some  months  in  a  monastery,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  more  accurately  instructed  by  the  monks,  who 
proved,  indeed,  neither  unkindly  nor  ill-disposed, 
though  they  were  utterly  ignorant  of  religious  truth. 
It  was  mainly  at  this  time  that  he  translated  his 
Psalms  into  various  measures.  At  length,  being 
restored  to  liberty,  he  asked  permission  of  the 
King  to  return  to  France.  The  King,  however, 
requested  him  to  remain,  and  supplied  him  with 
means  sufficient  for  his  daily  wants.  But  sick  of 
delays  and  uncertain  hopes,  he  embarked  at  Lisbon 
in  a  Cretan  ship,  and  sailed  for  England."  ^ 

'  This  is  the  Ferrerius  known  in  Scottish  literature  as  connected 
with  the  Monastery  of  Kinloss.  Cf.  Stuart,  Records  of  the  Monastery  of 
Kinloss. 

2  Vita  Sua. 


CHAPTEE  X. 


EROTIC  VERSES  AND  PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS. 

Buchanan's  Latin  version  of  the  Psalms,  we  have 
seen,  was  produced  mainly  during  his  sojourn  in 
Portugal ;  and  it  throws  a  curious  light,  both  on  the 
man  and  his  time,  when  we  learn  that  to  the  same 
period  belong  the  most  objectionable  of  his  erotic 
verses — those,  namely,  addressed  to  Leonora/  When 
we  remember,  also,  that  Buchanan  had  turned  his 
fortieth  year  when  he  wrote  these  verses,  we  see 
how  entirely  factitious  was  the  world  in  which  these 
humanists  lived,  how  their  whole  life  was  a  strain- 
ing after  modes  of  thought,  of  feeling,  of  expression, 
which  the  Christian  tradition  they  sought  to  ignore 
had  for  ever  made  impossible.  This  writing  of 
erotic  poetry  made,  in  fact,  an  essential  part  of  the 
discipline  of  the  scholars  of  the  Renaissance.  If  a 
scholar  made  any  pretensions  to  be  a  poet,  and  there 
were  few  of  them  who  did  not  make  the  pretension, 
he  must  have  given  proof  of  a  happy  turn  in  speak- 

1  This  can  easily  be  paralleled.  Marc-Antoine  Muret,  whom  we  have 
seen  as  possibly  the  colleague  of  Buchanan  at  the  College  du  Cardinal 
Lemoine,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  humanists  of  his  time.  In  1552 
he  delivered  in  Paris  a  Discourse  on  the  Excellence  of  Theology.  In  the 
same  year  he  published  his  Juvenilia  (dedicated  to  a  Councillor  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris),  in  which  he  permits  himself  the  greatest  licence  of 
expression  ;  and  the  next  year  his  Commentaire  sur  les  Amoiirs  dt 
Bonsard. — Dejob,  Marc-Antoine  Miiret,  p.  21, 

185 


136  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


ing  the  language  of  Catullus  or  TibuUus,  or  others 
of  the  amatory  poets  of  antiquity.  The  Italian 
poets  of  the  preceding  century  had  led  the  way 
in  this  exercise,  and  had  done  to  death  every 
word  and  phrase  in  the  vocabulary  of  this  species  of 
poetry.  It  is  needless  to  say  that,  in  the  matter  of 
absurdity  and  obscenity,  they  had  fairly  outdone 
their  masters.  As  Italy  had  been  the  inspirer  of 
the  new  learning,  the  example  of  her  scholars  could 
not  but  be  followed  by  their  imitators  beyond  the 
Alps.  The  fashion  of  writing  these  erotic  verses, 
therefore,  became  all  but  universal  in  every  country 
where  Latin  verse  was  cultivated — in  Scotland, 
notably,  among  the  rest. 

The  remarkable  thing,  however,  is  that  the 
licence  of  expression  in  these  productions  by  no 
means  implies  laxity  of  life  in  their  writers.  Beza, 
who  was  certainly  one  of  the  rankest  offenders  of  his 
century  in  this  matter,  solemnly  assures  us  that 
though  his  Muse  was  loose  his  life  was  chaste. 
Doubtless  there  were  exceptions,  as  in  the  case  of 
Muret,  whose  life  was  an  exceedingly  practical  com- 
mentary on  the  grossness  of  his  verse. ^  But  for  the 
most  part  the  cultivation  of  this  species  of  poetry 
was  simply  a  discipline,  an  avenue  to  distinction, 
which  the  humanists,  the  most  hungry  for  fame  of 
all  the  generations  of  men  of  letters,  could  not  afford 
to  neglect.  As  the  subject,  however,  is  one  which 
is  not  only  of  importance  towards  a  true  estimate  of 
Buchanan,  but  one  which  touches  the  deepest  life  of 
the  time,  it  is  as  well  that  we  should  understand 

^  M.  Dejob,  Muret's  latest  biographer,  is  of  opinion  that  the  charges 
of  unnatural  crime  brought  against  Muret  are  but  too  well  founded. 
— Marc-Antoine  Muret,  p.  55. 


EROTIC  VERSES. 


137 


how  this  erotic  verse  was  regarded  by  the  humanists 
themselves. 

In  publishing  his  Juvenilia^  at  Paris  in  1548, 
Beza,  then  in  his  twenty-ninth  year,  accompanies 
them  with  a  dedication  to  Melchior  Wolmar,  a  man 
of  severe  and  simple  virtue.  Wolmar  was,  in  truth, 
the  last  man  to  whom  Beza  would  have  submitted 
for  approval  what  he  knew  himself  to  be  unseemly. 

Although  many  grave  and  learned  men,"  he  begins 
in  his  Preface,  "  have  taken  objections  to  such 
poems  as  make  up  this  volume,  for  my  own  part  I 
could  never  help  spending  some  time  in  composing 
them,  whether  from  natural  predilection,  or  from  a 
conviction  that  this  manner  of  cultivating  one's  style 
is  neither  frivolous  nor  useless.  This  conviction 
was  deepened  by  the  weight  of  your  judgment, 
which  alone  would  be  enough  to  make  me  adopt 
any  opinion.  Moreover,  from  the  letter  you  sent  me 
from  Tubingen,  I  understand  that  these  same  verses 
of  mine  had  the  most  cordial  approval  of  yourself 
and  Camerarius.  Accordingly,  I  have  long  had  the 
wish  to  see  them  collected  in  one  volume,  convinced 
as  I  am  that  no  sensible  person  could  find  fault 
with  what  is  given  to  the  world  with  your  approval 
and  on  your  persuasion."  Afterwards,  indeed,  when 
Beza  had  identified  himself  with  Geneva,  he  had 
qualms  of  conscience  on  account  of  his  youthful 
effervescence.  But  at  that  period  he  had  ceased  to 
be  the  humanist,  and  had  become  the  theologian 
pure  and  simple.    What  the  dedication  proves  is, 

1  As  is  well  known,  the  verses  to  Candida  in  this  collection  have  their 
own  place  in  the  religious  controversies  in  which  Beza  afterwards  came 
to  be  engaged.  It  should  be  said  that  about  the  time  these  verses  were 
published,  Beza  delivered  lectures  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and 
the  Epistles  of  Peter. 


138  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


that  to  scholars  like  Wolmar  and  Camerarius,  the 
friend  and  follower  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  the 
most  licentious  forms  of  verse  were  simply  ingenious 
exercises  in  Latinity,  which  afforded  rival  humanists 
the  opportunity  of  proving  their  skill. 

There  is,  indeed,  no  product  of  humanism  that 
more  clearly  brings  before  us  the  complete  breach  it 
had  made  with  all  the  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages 
than  these  endless  lines  to  Phyllis,  Amaryllis, 
Leonora,  Pancharis,  Candida,  and  the  rest.  The 
humanists  had  broken  with  the  scholastic  philo- 
sophy, and  in  large  degree  also  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church.  These  verses  show  that  they  had 
also  broken  with  the  sentiment  of  the  JMiddle  Ages, 
as  expressed  in  the  best  troubadours,  in  Dante,  and 
in  Petrarch.  That  attitude  towards  woman  (so  dis- 
tinct from  the  attitude  of  antiquity)  which  resulted 
from  the  combined  influence  of  Christianity  and 
chivalry,  and  which  finds  expression  in  the  Pro- 
vencal poets,  is  not  understood  by  the  erotic  poets 
of  the  Renaissance.  Of  the  spiritualised  passion  of 
Dante,  or  the  "  almost  unearthly  sentiment "  of 
Petrarch,  they  have  no  approach  to  a  suggestion. 
Their  love-verses  are  as  purely  sensual  in  their 
inspiration  as  those  of  Ovid  or  Catullus.  Yet,  as 
has  already  been  said,  it  is  hardly  accurate  to  speak 
of  inspiration  in  connection  with  them.  Their  erotic 
verses  are  rightly  regarded  simply  as  more  or  less 
ingenious  attempts  to  reproduce  the  feeling  of  an 
age  divided  from  their  own  by  a  new  civilisation. 
It  was  left  for  Goethe,  the  Pagan  born  out  of 
due  time,  in  his  Eoman  elegies,  to  reproduce  in 
a  modern  tongue  the  unconscious  naturalism  of 
classical  antiquity. 


EROTIC  VERSES. 


139 


With  one  or  two  exceptions,  the  love-verses  of 
Buchanan  consist  of  two  sets,  those  addressed  to 
Leonora,  and  those  addressed  to  Neaera.  In  a  cer- 
tain sense  each  of  the  sets  constitutes  a  series.  In 
those  to  Leonora  he  seems  to  have  taken  Horace's 
ode  (iv.l3)  to  Lyce  as  his  model,  and  tortures  his  in- 
vention through  some  twenty  poems  for  every  term 
of  abuse.  Two  of  these  poems  might  seem  to  indicate 
that  Leonora  was  a  real  person,  whom  Buchanan  knew 
in  Coimbra;^  but  the  entire  series  has  so  essentially 
the  character  of  a  mere  theme,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
avoid  the  conclusion,  supported  as  it  is  by  other 
evidence,  that  she  is  a  mere  creation  of  the  poet's 
fancy.  The  verses  addressed  to  Neaera  are  of  a 
more  pleasing  description,  and  everywhere  display 
Buchanan's  talent  for  piquant  turns  of  thought  and 
felicitous  expression.  Like  the  verses  to  Leonora, 
they  are  all  in  one  strain  ;  only  in  Neaera's  case  her 
beauty  and  charm  is  the  theme.  One,  at  least,  of 
these  poems,  deserves  to  be  quoted  as  having  found 
a  place  in  most  subsequent  collections  of  epigrams : — 

Ilia  mihi  semper  praesenti  dura  Neaera, 
Me,  quoties  absum,  semper  abesse  dolet. 

Non  desiderio  nostri,  non  moeret  amore, 
Sed  se  non  nostro  posse  dolore  frui, 

"  When  I  am  by  her  side,  Neaera 's  cold, 

And,  strange  !  she  weeps  when  I  am  gone  : 
Think  not  for  love  of  me  these  tears  she  sheds  ; 
At  missing  mine  she  sheds  her  own." 

Like  Beza,  Buchanan  came  also  in  his  old  age 
to  regret  the  indiscretions  of  his  Muse.  Writing  to 
a  friend  in  1566,  he  says  "that  he  does  not  know 
whether  to  be  chagrined  or  ashamed  at  the  trifling 
character  of  the  greater  part  of  his  poems  "  ;  and  in 

^  lambon  Liber,  ii.  ;  Miscell.  vii. 


HO  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


another  letter,  dated  1579,  he  says  that  "  but  for 
the  importunities  of  friends,  he  would  have  con- 
signed to  eternal  oblivion  elegies,  sylvae,  and  epi- 
grams alike But  the  most  interesting  reference 
to  his  erotic  verse  is  found  in  a  poem  addressed  to 
Walter  Haddon,  one  of  the  Masters  of  the  Court 
of  Requests  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  who,  after  Buchanan 
himself,  holds  the  second  place  among  the  British 
Latinists  of  his  age.^  These  lines,  moreover,  de- 
serve to  be  quoted,  as  they  seem  to  place  beyond 
a  doubt  that  Leonora  and  Neaera  were  mere  names 
on  which  he  exercised  his  fancy.  Haddon,  it  ap- 
pears, had  called  on  his  friend  for  a  poem,  such  as 
he  had  once  known  so  well  how  to  turn.  But 
Buchanan,  now  on  the  verge  of  his  sixtieth  year, 
thus  replies  :  "In  vain  you  challenge  an  old  man 
to  the  sallies  of  his  youth.  Even  in  the  years  when 
such  trifling  is  more  seemly,  rarely  did  the  Muse 
visit  me,  born  as  I  was  in  mountainous  Britain,  in  a 
rude  age,  among  a  rude  people.  Now  when  declin- 
ing age  has  left  me  a  few  white  hairs,  when  I  have 
all  but  told  the  tale  of  threescore  years,  and  all  my 
spirits  droop,  Phoebus  turns  me  a  deaf  ear,  and  the 
Muses  hearken  not  to  my  call.  It  yields  me  no  joy 
now  to  sing  how  the  golden  hair  of  Phyllis  is  dearer 
to  me  than  the  lochs  of  Bacchus,  or  to  indite  stinging 
iambics  on  Neaera' s  heartless  want  of  faiths  ^ 

A  poem  which  also  belongs  to  this  period  of 
Buchanan's  life  was  once  thought  to  be  of  the  erotic 
class  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Amaryllis 

^  Hallam,  Lit.  of  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  501. 

2  Nec  Phyllidis  me  nunc  juvat  flavam  comam 
Praeferre  Bacchi  crinibus, 
Nec  in  Neaerae  perfidam  superbiam 

Saevos  iambos  stringere. — Liber  lamhon,  i. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS.  141 


to  whom  it  is  addressed  is  simply  an  allegorical 
name  for  Paris. Read  in  this  light,  it  is  interest- 
ing as  showing  how  large  a  place  Paris  filled  in  the 
thoughts  of  Buchanan.  When  he  wrote  it,  he  was 
still  in  Portugal,  and  had  already,  he  tells  us,  been 
seven  years  exiled  from  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  and 
it  is  his  fervent  prayer  that  his  return  may  not  be 
long  delayed. 

Another  favourite  exercise  of  the  humanists, 
besides  that  of  writing  erotic  poetry,  was  the 
metrical  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  Latin.  This 
exercise  commended  itself  to  them  for  a  double 
reason.  It  gave  them  scope  for  a  display  of  their 
Latinity,  and  it  placed  them  on  good  terms  with 
the  Church,  and  perhaps  with  their  own  conscience. 
The  double  benefit  to  be  derived  from  these  trans- 
lations— the  instruction  in  polite  letters,  and  the 
building  up  of  religious  faith — was  strongly  em- 
phasised by  the  great  German  reformers.^  One  of 
the  best  known  of  these  versions  is  that  of  Eobanus 
Hessus ;  and  to  this  version  there  were  originally 
prefixed  commendatory  epistles  to  the  author  from 
Luther,  Melanchthon,  and  Justus  Jonas.  All  three 
equally  insist  on  the  happy  combination  of  secular 
and  religious  instruction  to  be  gained  from  such 
a  rendering  of  the  Psalms.  Speaking  of  poetry  as 
the  efiicient  handmaid  of  religion,  Luther  has  the 
following  characteristic  sentence  :  "I  confess  to  be 

1  WartoD  thought  that  the  Amaryllis,  to  whom  Milton  alludes  in. 
Lycidas,  was  the  Amaryllis  of  Buchanan  ;  but,  as  is  stated  above,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Buchanan's  Amaryllis  is  merely  an  allegorical 
name  for  Paris.  Nevertheless,  Warton  may  have  been  right  in  his 
conjecture. 

2  Knox,  in  his  History,  thus  speaks  of  Buchanan's  paraphrase  of  the 
Psalms  :  That  singular  work  of  David's  Psalms,  in  Latin  metre  and 
poesie,  besides  many  others,  can  witness  the  rare  grace  of  God  given  to 
that  man." 


142 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BIT  CHAN  AN. 


one  of  those  whom  poetry  moves  more  deeply, 
delights  more  intensely,  and  clings  to  more  tena- 
ciously, than  any  prose,  be  it  the  prose  of  Cicero  or 
Demosthenes  himself"^  "I  give  it  to  you  as  my 
fixed  conviction,"  says  Melanchthon  also,  "  that  your 
edition  of  the  Psalms  is  of  real  service,  at  once  in 
building  up  the  piety,  and  in  forming  the  judgments 
of  the  young,  and  of  service,  moreover,  in  rousing 
generous  natures  to  the  study  of  poetry."  ^ 

Of  the  motives  which  prompted  the  humanists 
to  their  innumerable  versions  of  the  Psalms,  we  have 
also  an  interesting  statement  by  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  Italian  scholars  of  the  sixteenth 
century  —  Marcantonio  Flaminio.  Flaminio  is  in 
the  first  rank  of  modern  Latin  poets,  and  he  shared 
to  the  full  the  enthusiasm  for  classical  antiquity  that 
distinguished  all  the  Italian  scholars.  But  he  was  also 
— what  few  of  these  scholars  were — a  man  of  virtue 
and  simple  tastes,  who  ardently  desired  a  return  to 
purer  ideals  on  the  part  of  the  Church.^  Such  being 
his  character,  his  account  of  the  motives  that  prompted 
him  to  his  version  of  the  Psalms  has  a  peculiar 
interest.  The  lines  in  which  he  states  these  motives 
are  contained  in  an  address  to  the  reader  with 
which  he  closes  his  book  on  the  Psalms.*  In  the 
main,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  regards  the  subject  in 
the  same  light  as  Luther  and  Melanchthon — only,  as 

1  "Nam  ego  me  unum  ex  illis  esse  fateor,  quos  poemata  fortius  movent, 
vehementius  delectant,  tenaciusque  in  eis  haereant  quam  soluta  oratio, 
sit  sane  vel  ipse  Cicero  aut  Demosthenes." 

2  "Quare  et  ad  pietatem  et  ad  formanda  judicia  studiosae  juventutis, 
deinde  etiam  ad  incitandas  generosas  naturas  ad  studium  poetices, 
prodesse  banc  psalmorum  editionem  statuo." 

3  Mr.  J.  A.  Symonds  has  given  an  interesting  account  of  Flaminio 
in  his  Renaissance  in  Italy. 

*  "  M.  Antonii  Flaminii  in  Libruni  Psalmorum  brevis  explanatio." — 
Venice,  1545. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


143 


was  to  be  expected,  the  humanist  in  Flaminio  pre- 
vails over  the  reformer.  "  By  divine  aid,  Christian 
reader,"  he  says,  I  have  so  tempered  these  strains 
that,  as  thou  readest,  it  may  v^ellnigh  be  as  thou 
didst  read  the  most  sacred  bard  himself.  For 
though  v^ord  has  not  been  rendered  by  word,  and  I 
have  deemed  it  no  sin  to  add  much ;  yet  have  I  a 
good  and  sure  hope  that  nothing  has  been  added  which 
David  himself  would  disapprove,  nothing  which  does 
not  make  clear  what  is  obscure,  and,  after  the  manner 
of  light,  add  some  grace  to  the  beauty  of  the  poem  ; 
even  as  rich-hued  roses  and  violets,  garlanding  her 
golden  locks,  add  grace  to  some  beautiful  maiden."  ^ 
In  further  illustration  of  the  attitude  of  the 
humanists  towards  these  versions  of  the  Psalms,  we 
have  a  singularly  interesting  passage  in  the  dedicatory 
letter  with  which  Henri  Estienne  accompanied  his 
edition  of  Buchanan's  paraphrase.  The  letter  is 
addressed  to  Buchanan  himself;  and  in  the  passage 
quoted  it  will  be  seen  that  Flaminio  and  his  version 
are  made  the  subjects  of  criticism.  "If  any  one 
should  object,"  says  Estienne,  "  that  the  Scriptures 
do  not  admit  of  this  adornment  of  verse,  I  shall 
tell  him  what  four  years  ago  I  told  an  Italian  in 
Rome.  The  conversation  had  turned  on  Flaminio's 
version  of  the  Psalms,  and  I  praised  the  pains  he 
had  taken  with  his  task.'  '  The  whole  thing  was 
a  wretched  mistake,'  he  replied  (he  spoke  in  Italian, 
but  I  give  you  the  sense).  '  From  the  time  when 
Flaminio  gave  himself  to  the  Scriptures,  the  old 
grace  and  neatness  of  his  verse  has  deserted  him. 
Since  he  wasted  his  genius  on  these  subjects,  the 

^        ....  virgini  pulcherrimae 
Quale  decus  addunt  arte  purpureae  rosae, 
Violaeque  flavis  crinibus  circumdatae. 


144  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


exquisite  taste  that  formerly  distinguished  him  has 
got  corrupted.  When  he  now  tries  his  hand  at 
some  secular  theme,  you  no  longer  recognise  the 
hand  of  Flaminio.'^  *  If,  in  the  translation  of  Scrip- 
ture,' I  replied,  '  you  mean  that  there  should  be  no 
false  ornament,  I  am  quite  of  your  opinion;  for 
nothing  could  be  further  removed  from  the  spirit  of 
the  sacred  writings.  But  if  I  understand  you  to 
mean  that  not  even  ornaments  that  combine  dignity 
and  simplicity  are  to  be  allowed,  then  we  are  as 
far  asunder  as  the  poles  in  our  way  of  thinking. 
To  my  mind,  this  is  the  very  style  the  Scriptures 
demand.  I  hold,  therefore,  that  Flaminio's  mistake 
lay  in  this — that  before  he  attempted  the  Psalms, 
he  crippled  and  enfeebled  his  powers  in  the  com- 
position of  loose  and  trifling  love- ditties.  When  he 
sought  to  rise  into  a  higher  atmosphere,  and  to 
deal  with  serious  themes,  he  was  unequal  to  the  at- 
tempt. ' "  These  quotations  seem  necessary  to  explain 
the  spirit  in  which  Buchanan  must  have  conceived 
and  executed  what  is  by  far  the  most  famous  of 
all  his  productions.  The  quotations  are  interesting, 
moreover,  as  throwing  a  curious  light  on  the  atti- 
tude of  the  humanists  to  the  Christian  tradition. 

In  Buchanan's  paraphrase  the  roses  and  violets 
of  which  Flaminio  speaks  are  certainly  more  pro- 
fusely strewn  than  in  the  versions  of  most  other 
scholars.  Buchanan,  in  fact,  has  not  merely  done 
the  Psalms  into  Latin  verse  ;  he  has  sought  to  give 
to  them  the  form  and  texture  of  Horatian  odes. 

^  "  Imo,"  inquit  ille,  "  (verbis  quidem  Italicis,  sed  in  hunc  seDSum),  O 
factum  male :  ex  quo  enim  istis  sacris  se  ad  dixit,  multum  illius  carmini 
de  solita  elegantia  et  lepore  decessit.  Nam  qunm  omne  ^vpoBrjKiov 
respuant  ilia,  nescio  quomodo  ita  descivit  ab  illis  quibus  antea  uti 
solebat  ornamentis,"  etc. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS.  U5 


Where  it  was  necessary  to  mark  the  continuity  and 
development  of  the  thought,  he  never  scrupled  to 
supply  what  he  judged  to  be  the  missing  links. 
The  result  is  that  in  Buchanan's  version  a  Psalm  of 
David  ceases  to  be  what  it  frequently  is — a  series  of 
disjointed  utterances  making  no  organic  whole,  and 
becomes  a  coherent  poem  with  a  beginning  and  an 
end.  His  ideal  of  translation  was  that  of  Cowley  in 
rendering  his  two  odes  of  Pindar  :  "  not  so  much  to 
let  the  reader  know  what  the  author  spoke,  but 
what  was  his  way  and  manner  of  speaking".^  As 
we  must  think  with  our  better  lights  regarding 
Pindar  and  the  writers  of  the  Psalms,  both  Cowley 
and  Buchanan  in  their  respective  renderings  were 
the  width  of  heaven  from  "  the  way  and  manner  "  of 
their  originals. 

But  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  merit  of 
Buchanan's  version,  it  was  undoubtedly  the  work 
that  did  most  for  his  immediate  and  posthumous 
reputation.  It  was  in  the  title-page  of  their  two 
editions  of  Buchanan's  Psalms  that  Henri  and 
Bobert  Estienne  assigned  him  the  distinction  of 
being  poetarum  nostri  saeculi  facile  princeps.  In 
the  dedicatory  letter  above  quoted,  Henri  puts  the 
version  of  Buchanan  in  comparison  with  those  of 
Eobanus  Hessus,  Flaminius,  Salmonius  Macrinus, 
and  Bapicius,  all  among  the  best  Latin  versifiers  of 
their  day,  and  finds  that  of  Buchanan  superior  to 
them  all.  This  dictum  of  Estienne  was  long  indorsed 
by  the  scholars  of  the  Continent.  Henri  Estienne," 
says  Maittaire,  "  was  the  first  who  placed  Buchanan 
at  the  head  of  all  the  poets  of  his  day,  and  all 
France,  Italy,  and  Germany  have  since  subscribed 

^  Cowley  :  Preface  to  Pindarique  Odes. 
K 


146 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


to  the  same  opinion,  and  conferred  that  title  upon 
him."^  The  tributes  to  the  merits  of  Buchanan's 
paraphrase  form,  in  truth,  an  interesting  commen- 
tary on  the  Uterary  ambition  of  the  Latinists  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  "  Virgil," 
says  Guy  Pat  in,  ''never  made  better  verses  than 
Buchanan,  and  fifteen  centuries  were  needed  to 
produce  another  poet  like  Virgil."  ^  The  saying  of 
the  P^re  Bourbon,  also,  as  reported  by  Menage,  has 
often  been  quoted — that  he  would  rather  be  the 
author  of  Buchanan's  Psalms  than  Archbishop  of 
Paris.  Cowley  is  more  critical,  yet  he  admits 
Buchanan's  superiority  to  all  rivals.  Speaking  of 
the  various  translations  of  the  Psalms,  he  says  : 
"  Bucanan  himself  (though  much  the  best  of  all 
these  translators,  and  indeed  a  great  person)  comes 
in  my  opinion  no  less  short  of  David  than  his 
country  of  Judsea."  Even  in  Buchanan's  lifetime 
his  Psalms  were  introduced  into  the  schools  of 
Germany;  and  so  early  as  1585  an  edition  set  to 
music  was  published.^  In  Scotland  they  made 'a 
regular  part  of  Latin  reading  in  schools  till  a  com- 
paratively recent  period ;  and,  according  to  Mr. 
Hill  Burton,  ''their  use  as  text-books  gave  a 
vitality  to  the  teaching  of  Latin  in  Scotland  it 
could  not  easilv  achieve  elsewhere."  * 

Buchanan's  most  formidable  rival  in  this  his 
most  famous  work  has  been  his  own  countryman, 

^  Quoted  by  Hallam,  Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  ii.  p.  147. 

Guy  Patin,  Lettre  151. 
^  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  118. 

*  Scot  A  broad,  vol.  ii.  p.  33.  In  a  note  to  the  next  page,  Mr.  Hill 
Burton  states  that  "it  was  a  fine  intellectual  treat  to  find  the  late  Dr. 
Melvin  of  Aberdeen  exercising  his  first  form  on  Buchanan's  Psalms ". 
Professor  Masson  informs  me  that  they  were  read  on  Saturdays  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  classes. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


147 


Arthur  Johnston.  Round  the  respective  merits  of 
each  quite  a  hvely  controversy  arose  during  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  certain  of  Buchanan's  most 
fervent  admirers  were  even  wroth  that  Johnston 
should  have  had  the  audacity  to  enter  the  lists 
against  his  great  countryman.  Nevertheless,  a  few 
scholars,  both  British  and  foreign,  have  been  of 
opinion  that  in  elegance  of  diction,  as  well  as  in 
fidelity  to  the  original,  Johnston  has  the  advan- 
tage.^ Johnston  himself,  however,  frankly  admitted 
Buchanan  s  superiority,  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  he  judged  aright.  Johnston  has  con- 
fined himself  almost  exclusively  to  elegiac  metre, 
and  he  evidently  made  a  point  of  keeping  more 
closely  to  his  original  than  Buchanan.  But  in 
real  poetic  feeling  and  easy  mastery  of  language 
Buchanan  leaves  Johnston  far  behind.  For  the 
modern  English  reader  it  is  doubtless  hard  to  feel 
either  interest  or  pleasure  in  any  of  these  attempts 
to  make  King  David  speak  the  language  of  Horace 
and  Virgil.  Accustomed  as  he  is  from  childhood  to 
the  noble  simplicities  of  the  English  version,  he  is 
apt  to  find  but  little  satisfaction  in  the  most  suc- 
cessful even  of  Buchanan's  renderings.  Yet  few 
who  know  Buchanan's  version  of  the  137th  Psalm 
will  refuse  to  admit  that  with  all  its  classical  sug- 
gestions, and  in  spite  of  its  wide  departure  from  the 
true  spirit  of  Hebrew  poetry,  it  possesses  an  inde- 

1  Hallam  passes  the  following  adverse  criticism  on  Buchanan's  para- 
phrase :  "  It  is  difficult,  perhaps,  to  find  one  of  Buchanan's  Psalms, 
except  the  137th,  with  which  he  has  taken  particular  pains,  that  can  be 
called  truly  elegant  or  classical  Latin  poetry." — Lit.  of  the  Mid.  Ages, 
vol.  ii.  p.  147.  "  So  different  are  the  humours  of  critics  ! "  as  Hallam 
himself  remarks  in  a  note  on  this  very  passage.  Hallam's  criticism 
here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  is  that  of  the  scholar  rather  than  the 
sympathetic  reader. 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


pendent  charm  of  its  own  that  lays  criticism  asleep. 
The  following  renderings  of  the  23d  Psalm  by- 
Buchanan  and  Johnston  respectively  will  give  an 
idea  of  their  different  styles  of  translation.  A 
literal  English  translation  of  the  same  Psalm  will 
bring  before  the  reader  the  striking  contrast  be- 
tween what  has  been  called  the  "lightning-like 
effect "  ^  of  the  original  and  what  once  passed  for 
faithful  translation  : — 

Jehovah  is  my  shepherd  ;  I  shall  not  want.  In  pastures  of  young 
grass  he  maketh  me  lie  down  ;  by  the  waters  of  resting-places  doth  he 
gently  lead  me. 

He  refreshes  my  soul  ;  he  leads  me  in  right  tracks  for  his  name's 
sake. 

Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  deadly  shade,  I  will  fear 
no  evil,  for  thou  art  with  me  ;  thy  club  and  thy  stafiF,  they  comfort  me. 

Thou  furnishest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of  my  foes  ; 
thou  hast  anointed  my  head  with  oil,  my  cup  runs  over. 

Surely  good  fortune  and  loving- kindness  shall  follow  me  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  and  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  for  length 
of  days. 

The  following  is  the  version  of  Buchanan  : — 

Quid  frustra  rabidi  me  petitis  Canes  ? 
Livor,  propositum  cur  premis  improbum  1 
Sicut  pastor  ovem,  me  Dominus  regit  ; 

Nil  deerit  penitus  mihi. 
Per  campi  viridis  mitia  pabula, 
Quae  veris  teneri  pingit  amoenitas. 
Nunc  pascor  placide  ;  nunc  saturum  latus 

Fessus  molliter  explico. 
Purae  rivus  aquae  leniter  astrepens 
Membris  restituit  robora  languidis, 
Et  blando  recreat  fomite  spiritus 

Solis  sub  face  torrida. 
Saltus  quum  peteret  mens  vaga  devios 
Errorum  teneras  illecebras  sequens, 

1  The  expression  is  Dr.  Cheyne's  ;  and  the  translation  is  that  given 
by  him  in  the  Parchment  Library.  Buchanan's  paraphrase  was,  of 
course,  made  from  the  Vulgate.  We  have  no  evidence  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  Hebrew. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


149 


Retraxit  miserans  denuo  me  bonus 

Pastor  justitiae  in  viam. 
Nec  si  per  trepidas  luctifica  manu 
Intentet  tenebras  mors  mihi  vulnera 
Formidem  duce  te  pergere  ;  me  pedo 

Securum  facies  tuo. 
Tu  mensas  epulis  accumulas,  merum 
Tu  plenis  pateris  sufficis,  et  caput 
Unguento  exhilaras  :  conficit  aemulos, 

Dum  spectant,  dolor  anxius. 
Me  numquam  bonitas  destituat  tua, 
Profususque  bonis  perpetuo  favor  ; 
Et  non  sollicitae  longa  domi  tuae 

Vitae  tempora  transigam. 

We  now  give  Johnston's  rendering  : — 

Blandus  ut  upilio,  me  pascit  Conditor  orbis  : 

Ne  mihi  quid  desit,  providus  ille  cavet. 
Dat  satur  ut  recubem  pratorum  in  gramine  moUi : 

Ducit  et  ad  rivos  lene  sonantis  aquae. 
Cor  recreat,  rectique  viam  mihi  monstrat  et  aequi : 

lUius  ut  laudes  laetus  in  astra  feram. 
Non  ego  degeneri  quaterer  formidine,  leti 

Ante  oculos  quamvis  vallis  opaca  foret : 
Tu,  Deus  !  es  praesto,  baculo  vestigia  firmans 

Ne  titubem  :  vires  restituisque  meas. 
Hoste  palam  tu  das  plenis  accumbere  mensis  ; 

Et  mihi  regales  porrigis  ipse  dapes  : 
Tu  caput  irroras  succo  felicis  olivae  ; 

Sufl&cis  et  larga  pocula  plena  manu. 
Me  tua  defendet  bonitas,  dum  lumine  vescar  ; 

Per  salebras  gressus  diriget  ilia  meos. 
Inque  tuis  adytis,  rerum  Pater  alme  !  morabor  ; 

Hie,  ubi  perpetuo  gaudia  laetus  agam. 


CHAPTER  XL 


FRANCE  ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  MARECHAL 

DE  BRISSAC. 

1552-1."  61. 

Buchanan,  we  have  seen,  left  Portugal  for  England 
in  1552.  His  sojourn  in  England  at  this  time  must 
have  been  even  shorter  than  on  the  occasion  of  his 
former  visit.  Some  inducement,  it  appears,  was  held 
out  to  him  to  make  his  stay  longer ;  but  the  state 
of  the  country  was  such  that  it  was  no  home  for 
peaceful  students  like  himself^  As  it  must  have 
been  towards  the  end  of  1552  that  he  arrived  in 
England,  his  description  of  the  state  of  the  country 
must  refer  to  the  strifes  of  Somerset  and  North- 
umberland, and  the  subsequent  intrigues  of  the  latter 
to  secure  the  accession  of  his  son  to  the  throne  as 
the  husband  of  Lady  Jane  Grey. 

As  the  time  had  not  yet  come  when  Scotland 
could  be  a  place  for  men  of  his  tastes,  there  was 
but  one  other  country  open  to  him — France.  But 
if  France  had  become  an  almost  impossible  abode 
for  the  scholar  when  he  left  it  in  1547,  things  had 

1  "  Nec  hie  tamen  substitit,  quamquam  honestis  conditionibus  invi- 
taretur.  Erant  enim  illic  omnia  adhuc  turbida  sub  rege  adolescente, 
proceribus  discordibus,  et  populi  adhuc  animis  tumescentibus  ab  recenti 
motu  civili." — Vita  Sua. 

150 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  151 


hardly  improved  in  that  country  during  his  absence. 
Henry  ii.,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  on  the 
throne,  was  no  patron  of  letters  like  Francis ;  and 
in  the  matter  of  religion  he  had  the  unwavering 
conviction  that,  save  where  his  own  interests  were 
concerned,  it  was  the  highest  crime  in  a  ruler  to 
give  any  quarter  to  heretics.  The  persons  who  had 
most  influence  with  him,  Diane  de  Poitiers,  Con- 
stable Montmorency,  and  the  Guises,  all  in  strict 
subservience  to  their  own  interests,  drove  him  to 
that  policy  which  before  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury was  wellnigh  to  wreck  France  as  a  nation. 
They  drove  him  to  the  continuance  of  the  fatal 
wars  with  Charles  v.  and  his  successor  Philip, 
which,  as  far  as  Henry  was  concerned,  were  to 
end  in  one  of  the  most  ignominious  arrangements 
France  ever  entered  into — the  Peace  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis  in  1559,  the  year  of  Henry's  own  death. ^ 
From  Buchanan's  arrival  in  France  till  the  date  of 
that  treaty  the  nation  was  engaged  in  continuous 
war  either  in  Italy  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Ehine. 
In  Italy,  the  conduct  of  the  Mar^chal  de  Brissac, 
with  whom  we  shall  presently  see  Buchanan  in 
honourable  relations,  won  a  certain  success  for 
France  ;  and  the  capture  of  Calais  from  the 
English,  and  the  brilliant  defence  of  the  lately 
acquired  town  of  Metz,  helped  to  blind  the  country 
to  the  disastrous  results  of  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment. To  this  mistaken  foreign  policy  was  joined 
the  even  more  infatuated  home  policy  of  merciless 
persecution  for  religious  opinion.  As  his  war  with 
the  Emperor  forced  Henry  into  an  alliance  with  the 
Protestants  of  Germany,  he  sought  to  redeem  his 

^  H.  Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  vol.  viii.  chap.  xlix. 


152  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


character  as  an  orthodox  son  of  the  Church  by  all 
the  more  remorseless  persecution  of  heretics  at 
home.  Almost  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  a 
chamber,  known  as  la  chamhre  ardente,  was  estab- 
lished in  the  Parliament  for  special  dealing  with  all 
suspected  of  heresy.^  The  persecution  became  so 
close  and  merciless  that  crowds  of  Frenchmen  were 
driven  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Geneva.^ 

Such  being  the  state  of  affairs  in  France  during 
this  period,  it  is  certainly  noteworthy  that  Buchanan 
should  have  found  himself  at  his  ease  in  that  country, 
and  that  he  should  not  rather  have  sought  in  Geneva 
a  more  congenial  place  of  abode.  As  we  shall  see, 
however,  Buchanan  was  on  perfectly  good  terms 
with  the  Government,  lived  in  intimate  relations 
with  a  French  marshal  known  as  the  foe  of  all 
heretics,  and  was  ready  with  his  congratulatory 
odes  whenever  the  occasion  demanded  them.  The 
true  inference  from  all  this  seems  to  be  that 
Buchanan's  interests  as  the  scholar  of  the  Renais- 
sance were  stronger  than  his  interests  as  the  re- 
former of  the  corruptions  of  the  Church.  But,  in 
all  probability,  at  no  time  of  his  life,  not  even  after 
his  final  adoption  of  the  creed  of  the  Scottish 
Reformers,  would  he  have  exchanged  Paris,  in  spite 
of  the  Sorbonne,  for  Geneva  and  its  reign  of  the 
saints. 

In  one  of  the  very  happiest  of  his  shorter  poems, 
Buchanan  has  given  expression  to  the  pleasure  he 
felt  on  finding  himself  once  more  on  the  soil  of 
France.  "Farewell,"  he  exclaims,  "a  long  fare- 
well, ye  barren  wastes  and  niggard  soil  of  Portugal. 
But  hail  !  happy  France,  kind  nurse  of  all  the  arts 

1  H.  Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  vol.  viii.  chap.  xlix.  ^  il)id. 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  153 


of  life,  with  thy  wholesome  skies,  thy  generous 
tilth,  thy  vine-shaded  hills,  thy  groves  alive  with 
cattle,  thy  richly-watered  valleys,  thy  plains  gay 
with  flowers,  thy  rivers  whose  far  sweep  bears 
down  many  a  sail  to  the  deep,  thy  pools,  thy 
streams,  thy  lakes,  thy  seas  with  their  plenteous 
stores ;  in  many  a  harbour  receiving  the  world  as 
thy  guest,  bounteous  in  thy  turn  to  share  thy 
blessings ;  happy  France !  with  thy  sweet  country 
homes,  thy  ramparted  walls,  thy  stately  castles, 
and  thy  sons  adorned  with  all  the  graces  of  life, 
modest,  courteous,  pleasant  of  speech.  .  .  .  France  ! 
if  while  I  live  I  love  and  cherish  thee  not  as  one 
cherishes  and  loves  the  land  of  his  birth,  then  may 
I  return  to  the  barren  wastes  and  niggard  soil  of 
Portugal."  ^ 

At  the  moment  of  Buchanan's  arrival  in  France 
the  country  was  rejoicing  at  the  repulse  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  in  his  attempt  to  recover  the 
important  town  of  Metz.  As  was  the  invariable 
custom  on  such  occasions,  every  scholar  came  forward 
with  his  Latin  ode  in  celebration  of  the  triumph  of 
the  French  arms,  whereby  de  I'Hopital  said  in  his 
ode  "  warlike  Germany  had  at  length  yielded  to 
France  her  old  superiority  in  battle".  As  an  admirer 
of  France,  Buchanan  was  pressed  by  his  friends  to 
add  his  voice  to  the  rest.  He  did  not  quite  relish 
the  task,  as  it  seemed  to  put  him  in  competi- 
tion with  certain  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  He 
felt  an  especial  delicacy,  he  tells  us,  in  seeming  to 
put  himself  in  rivalry  with  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais, 
the  most  popular  of  the  Court  poets  of  the  period.^ 
This  casual  mention  of  Saint-Gelais  as  one  of  his 


^  Adventus  in  Galliam. 


^  Vita  Sua. 


154 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


intimates  is  of  much  more  importance  to  us  in  an 
attempt  to  understand  Buchanan  than  the  poem 
he  made  to  order  on  the  successful  defence  of 
Metz. 

On  the  death  of  Clement  Marot,  Saint-Gelais 
held  for  a  brief  season,  till  the  appearance  of  Ron- 
sard,  the  first  place  among  the  vernacular  poets  of 
France.  He  has  the  distinction  of  having  imported 
the  sonnet  into  French  literature,  and  he  had  a 
certain  "witty  delicacy"  which  won  for  him  his 
brilliant  though  strictly  ephemeral  reputation.  He 
was  an  ecclesiastic  and  the  son  of  an  ecclesiastic  ; 
and  he  held  the  post  of  almoner  at  the  Court  of 
Henry  ii.,  so  that  Buchanan  may  have  experienced 
substantial  proofs  of  his  favour.^  But  what  is  to  be 
noted  in  Saint-Gelais  in  connection  with  Buchanan, 
is  thus  stated  by  a  great  French  critic.  "  Saint- 
Gelais,"  he  says,  "  seems  to  have  neglected  no  con- 
trasts which  poetry  could  offer  to  his  profession,  and 
he  often  made  his  ecclesiastical  knowledge  serve 
him  for  sufficiently  profane  allusions."  ^  His  well- 
known  jest  at  the  expense  of  the  doctors  who  were 
disputing  about  the  nature  of  his  case  as  he  lay  on 
his  deathbed — Messieurs,  je  vais  vous  lever  de  peine 
— may  be  taken  as  illustrating  the  same  strain  in 
his  character.  With  a  personage  of  the  type  of 
Saint-Gelais  it  is  utterly  impossible  that  Knox  or 
Calvin  could  at  any  period  of  their  lives  have  had 
a  single  sentiment  in  common.  Yet  Buchanan 
admired  Saint-Gelais'  verses,  and  was  bound  to 
him  by  some  tie,  whether  of  sympathy  or  obliga- 
tion.   It  is  precisely  in  this  friendly  relation  with 

^  NouveUe  Biographie  Generale. 

2  Sainte-Beuve,  Tableau  de  la  Poesie  Frangaise  au  xvi'  Siecle. 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  155 

men  like  Saint-Gelais,  taken  together  with  his  con- 
tempt for  the  ignorance  of  the  monks  and  the  obscur- 
antism of  the  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne,  that  we 
see  in  Buchanan  at  this  period  the  humanist  pure 
and  simple/ 

After  his  arrival  in  France  in  the  beginning  of 
1553,  Buchanan  appears  to  have  made  his  home  in 
Paris  for  the  next  two  years ;  and  at  some  time  during 
this  period,  as  we  gather  from  a  letter  addressed  to 
him  after  his  final  return  to  Scotland,  he  must  have 
filled  the  post  of  regent  in  the  College  Boncourt. 
Of  the  details  of  his  life  during  these  years  we 
know  nothing  ;  but  we  gather  from  his  dedications 
to  his  translations  of  the  Medea  and  Alcestis  of 
Euripides,  that  his  stay  in  France  was  not  without 
risk,  and  that,  like  other  scholars  during  this  reign,  he 
was  in  some  danger  of  finding  his  way  to  the  Place 
Maubert.  He  had  friends  in  high  places,  however, 
as  these  dedications  prove — for  they  are  addressed 
to  no  less  distinguished  persons  than  Margaret  the 
King's  sister,  and  one  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of 
Luxembourg,  both  of  whom,  he  tells  us,  had  given 
him  tokens  of  their  favour,  and  had  shielded  him 
from  the  attacks  of  his  enemies. 

But  the  closest  and  most  honourable  relation 
that  Buchanan  had  with  great  persons  in  France 
was  that  with  Charles  du  Cosse,  Comte  de  Brissac, 
one  of  the  marshals  of  France.  At  this  time  de 
Brissac  was  in  command  of  the  French  forces  in 
Italy ;  but  Buchanan  must  at  some  previous  period 
have  had  proofs  of  his  respect  and  good-will.  In 

^  Buchanan  has  the  following  epigram  on  Saint-Gelais  : — 

Mellinum  patrio  sale  carmina  tingere  jussit, 
Parceret  ut  famae  Musa,  Catulle,  tuae. 


156  THE  LIFE  OF  GEOKGE  BUCHANAN. 

1553,  on  de  Brissac's  capture  of  Yercelli,  Buchanan 
had  written  a  congratulatory  ode,  manifestly  in- 
spired by  genuine  admiration  for  his  character  and 
exploits.  In  the  following  year  he  dedicated  to 
him  his  tragedy  Jephthes,  and  accompanied  it  with  a 
preface  which  does  honour  both  to  the  soldier  and 
to  the  poet.  It  is  in  this  preface,  as  has  already 
been  mentioned,  that  Buchanan  puts  forward  his 
argument  that  there  is  no  necessary  antagonism 
between  war  and  letters.  Formerly,  he  says,  the 
great  captain  and  the  great  writer  were  frequently 
conjoined.  If  this  is  no  longer  the  case,  the  poet 
and  the  soldier,  at  all  events,  can  never  dispense 
with  the  function  of  each  other.  The  soldier 
provides  the  poet  with  the  material  of  his  song, 
and  thereby  the  soldier  attains  what  is  his  para- 
mount desire — immortal  fame.  The  happy  union 
of  distinction  in  war  and  love  of  letters  is  seen  in 
no  one  more  conspicuously  than  in  de  Brissac.  In 
all  his  campaigns  he  never  fails  to  surround  himself 
with  men  eminent  for  their  learning.  Of  his  love 
for  learning  he  has  given  the  most  conclusive  proof 
in  the  jealous  care  he  has  taken  in  the  educa- 
tion of  his  son.  And  Buchanan  concludes  with  an 
expression  of  gratitude  for  de  Brissac's  past  favours 
to  him.  "  Before  you  had  even  seen  me,"  he  says, 
' '  and  when  I  was  unknown  to  you  except  by  repute 
as  a  scholar,  you  overwhelmed  me  with  such  proofs 
of  your  goodwill  and  generosity,  that  if  I  have 
produced  aught  of  any  real  value,  if  any  result  is 
likely  to  come  of  my  labours,  to  you  must  certainly 
belong  all  the  credit." 

That  de  Brissac  deserved  all  that  Buchanan  said 
of  him  we  have  the  most  conclusive  testimony  from 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  157 


many  sources.  There  must  have  been  in  him,  indeed, 
a  strain  of  magnanimity  which  reminds  us  of  the 
best  types  in  Plutarch's  gallery  of  heroes.  Henry  ii. 
had  made  him  Governor- General  of  Piedmont,  by 
way,  it  is  said,  of  ridding  himself  of  a  formidable 
rival  in  his  amours  with  Diane  de  Poitiers.  In 
Piedmont,  de  Brissac's  conduct  was  such  as  to  place 
him  among  the  first  soldiers  of  France  during  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  with  Admiral  Coligny  he 
shares  the  distinction  of  humanising  the  preva- 
lent modes  of  warfare,  and  of  raising  the  char- 
acter of  French  military  discipline.  An  interest- 
ing example  is  given  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
enforced  discipline  among  his  subordinates.  Since 
the  Emperor  Charles  and  Francis  had  interchanged 
cartels  of  defiance  on  the  refusal  of  the  latter  to 
observe  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  duelling- 
had  become  more  and  more  the  fashion  among  the 
gentlemen  of  France.  In  de  Brissac's  camp  the 
practice  was  strictly  forbidden ;  but  when  the 
parties  would  not  be  turned  from  their  purpose 
they  were  allowed  to  proceed  on  one  condition  : 
they  must  conduct  their  meeting  on  a  narrow 
bridge  spanning  a  stream,  in  such  fashion  that  the 
combatant  who  fell  must  be  drowned  in  the  water 
below.  ^  De  Brissac  permitted  no  plunder  in  an 
enemy's  country,  and  when  a  town  fell  into  his 
hands,  his  treatment  of  the  inhabitants  was  such 
as  marked  him  out  from  all  the  commanders  of  the 
period.  Of  his  high-minded  patriotism  he  gave  a 
striking  example,  when  at  a  certain  critical  juncture 
he  sacrificed  his  daughter's  dowry,  and  borrowed 
money  on  his  own  personal  fortune  to  meet  the 

^  H.  Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  vol.  viii.  chap.  xlix. 


158  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

claims  of  his  soldiers.^  There  was  therefore  more 
than  mere  courtly  compliment  in  the  title  of  the 
fine  ode  which  Buchanan  addressed  to  de  Brissac — 
De  Amove  Gossaei  et  Aretes. 

It  was  in  1555  that  de  Brissac  chose  Buchanan 
to  be  tutor  to  his  son,  Timoleon  du  Cosse,  then  a 
boy  of  twelve.  As  Buchanan  had  the  young  du 
Cosse  in  charge  for  the  next  five  years,  his  high 
opinion  of  de  Brissac  must  have  been  cordially 
reciprocated,  and  it  must  certainly  be  regarded  as  a 
high  tribute  at  once  to  the  character  and  attain- 
ments of  Buchanan,  that  a  personage  of  the  rank 
and  stamp  of  the  Marechal  de  Brissac  should  have 
chosen  him  from  the  crowd  of  French  scholars  to 
this  responsible  post.  Buchanan  had  every  reason 
to  be  proud  of  his  pupil.  The  Comte  de  Brissac," 
says  Brantome,  "  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  and 
accomplished  noblemen  I  have  ever  seen  in  our 
Court.  I  have  hardly  ever  seen  one  of  them  who 
has  not  been  guilty  of  some  folly  in  his  youth,  but 
de  Brissac  was  never  guilty  of  any."  In  another 
place  Brantome  has  the  following  remark  on  a 
characteristic  of  du  Cosse,  which  may  be  set  down 
to  Buchanan  s  credit  as  his  teacher  :  Quant  aux 
vertus  de  lame  de  ce  Comte,  il  estoit  scavant,  et 
lisoit  tousjours  peu  et  pen."  ^  Yet  from  the  separate 
portraits  Brantome  has  given  us  of  the  father  and 
the  son,  it  is  evident  that  the  father  had  the  larger 
mind  and  nobler  nature.  Nevertheless,  a  career 
as  brilliant  as  that  of  his  father's  seemed  opening 
before  the  son,  when  he  was  killed  by  a  musket- 
ball  at  the  age  of  twenty-six.    Buchanan's  most 


1  Nouvelle  Biographie  Generate. 

-  Brantome,  Vie  des  Hommes  lUustres. 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  159 


ambitious  poem,  and  that  on  which  he  meant  his 
fame  should  rest  more  than  any  other — the  De 
Sphaera — is  the  memorial  of  his  relation  with  his 
pupil ;  for  to  him  the  poem  is  specially  addressed. 

During  the  five  years  of  his  engagement  with 
de  Brissac,  Buchanan  was  constantly  coming  and 
going  between  Italy  and  France.^  Of  his  friendly 
relations  with  the  Marshal  himself  H.  Estienne  tells 
the  following  story.  ' '  The  Gomte  de  Brissac,"  he  says, 
was  in  the  habit  of  admitting  George  Buchanan, 
the  tutor  of  his  son,  to  his  councils  of  war.  He  was 
led  to  do  this  from  the  following  incident.  On  a 
certain  occasion  Buchanan  had  come  down  from  his 
bedroom  to  the  dining-room  to  give  some  order  to  a 
domestic.'  As  it  happened,  de  Brissac  with  his  staff 
was  deliberating  in  an  adjoining  hall  on  matters 
of  the  gravest  importance.  Buchanan,  overhearing 
what  was  said,  muttered  some  words  of  disapproval. 
De  Brissac  noticing  a  smile  on  the  face  of  one  of  his 
officers,  and  the  reason  being  given,  Buchanan  was 
called  in  and  asked  for  his  opinion.  This  he  did  with 
such  sagacity  that  all  present  agreed  that  his  sugges- 
tion should  be  adopted.  As  it  happened,  the  result 
confirmed  the  wisdom  of  Buchanan's  counsel."  ^ 

The  beginning  of  his  poem  on  the  Sphere,  and  a 
few  short  occasional  pieces,  make  up  the  list  of 
Buchanan's  productions  during  these  years.  His 
thoughts,  in  fact,  had  now  begun  to  take  a  new 
direction,  and  his  humanistic  studies  gave  place  to 
a  keen  personal  interest  in  the  great  religious 
questions  of  the  time.    Till  his^last  arrival  in  France, 

1  Vita  Sua, 

^  Quoted  by  Ruddiman  in  his  commentary  on  Buchanan's  auto- 
biography. 


160  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


in  1553,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  still  con- 
sidered himself  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Certain  expressions  in  the  poem  already  quoted, 
Adventus  in  Galliam,  put  this  beyond  question.  He 
there  speaks  of  France  as 

.  .  .  cultrix  numinis 
Sincera,  ritum  in  exterum  non  degener, 

which  can  refer  only  to  the  religious  innovations  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland.  In  his  poem  on  the 
capture  of  Calais  in  1558,  he  speaks  of  the  Pope 
as  Pater  Romanus  in  a  tone  utterly  incompatible 
with  Lutheran  or  Calvinistic  leanings.  But  during 
his  last  years  in  France,  he  for  the  first  time  began 
to  make  a  serious  study  of  the  questions  at  issue 
between  Rome  and  the  Protestant  reformers.  His 
own  words  are  so  remarkable  that  they  deserve  to 
be  quoted.  These  five  years,  he  says,  he  mainly 
devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  in  order  that  he 
might  be  able  to  form  definite  opinions  for  himself 
on  the  controversies  which  were  then  exercising 
the  majority  of  men.  These  controversies,  he  pro- 
ceeds, were  now  on  the  point  of  being  settled  at 
home,  since  the  Scots  had  got  rid  of  the  tyranny  of 
the  Guises.  Returning  thither,  he  gave  in  his 
adhesion  to  the  Scottish  Church.  ^  Till  the  very 
eve,  therefore,  of  his  final  return  to  Scotland,  and 
when  he  was  already  in  his  fifty-fifth  year,  we  are 
bound  to  regard  Buchanan  as  emphatically  the 
product  of  the  Renaissance,  not  of  the  Reformation. 
It  was  probably  some  time  in  1561,  after  an 

^  "  Quod  tempus  maxima  ex  parte  dedit  sacrarum  literarum  studio, 
ut  de  controversiis,  quae  turn  majorem  hominum  partem  exercebant, 
exactius  dijudicare  posset ;  quae  turn  domi  conquiescere  coeperant, 
Scotis  a  tyrannide  Guisiana  liberatis.  Eo  reversus  nomen  ecclesiae 
Scotorum  dedit." — Vita  Sva. 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MARECHAL  DE  BRISSAC.  161 

exile  of  twenty-two  years,  that  Buchanan  returned 
to  his  native  country  ;  and  there,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  flying  visit  to  Paris,  and  a  short  sojourn 
in  England,  he  thenceforth  remained  for  the  rest  of 
his  life. 


L 


CHAPTER  XIL 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 

By  liis  poem  entitled  De  Spiatra  Buchanan  doubt- 
less thought  that  he  would  lay  the  foundations  of 
his  fame  deep  enough  to  defy  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  time.  He  wrote  it  in  Latin,  thus  securing,  as  he 
fancied,  an  unfailing  succession  of  educated  readers  ; 
and  he  chose  a  theme  which,  as  he  confidently  anti- 
cipated, linked  his  literary  fortunes  to  the  very 
course  of  Nature  itself  But  if  he  had  known  it, 
even  when  he  wrote,  modern  Europe  had  rejected 
Latin  as  the  vehicle  of  its  deepest  thoughts  and 
feelings ;  and  what  he  deemed  the  eternal  system 
of  the  universe  had  been  exploded  some  twenty 
years  before  he  began  to  sing  it. 

In  thus  choosing  the  system  of  things  as  the 
subject  of  his  most  important  poem,  Buchanan  was 
only  impelled  by  the  necessities  of  the  movement  of 
which  he  was  so  brilliant  a  representative.  That 
movement  being  essentially  imitative  and  not  crea- 
tive, themes  of  truly  human  interest  were  debarred 
to  him  and  his  fellows.  Consequently,  when  they 
aimed  at  the  higher  triumphs  of  their  art  they  were 
almost  inevitably  driven  to  subjects  of  a  didactic 
character.  How  sorely  they  were  pressed  for  sub- 
jects may  be  gathered  from  the  titles  of  some  of  the 

162 


DE  8PHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS.  163 


best-known  poems  of  Italian  writers  of  Latin  verse. 
Thus,  we  have  Vida's  poem  on  the  Game  of  Chess 
and  his  epic  on  Silk-worms,  and  the  unsavoury 
theme  of  Fracastorius'  famous  poem.  But  if  a 
didactic  subject  was  to  be  chosen,  there  could  be 
few,  as  Hallam  remarks,  "  which  could  afford  better 
opportunities  for  ornamental  digression  "  than  the 
system  of  the  heavens.-^ 

With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  shorter  pieces, 
indeed,  Buchanan  has  produced  no  better  poetry 
than  is  to  be  found  in  many  passages  of  the 
Sjphere.  The  poem  was  written  in  the  full  ma- 
turity of  his  powers,  and  with  the  full  conscious- 
ness that  he  was  making  his  greatest  stroke  for 
fame.  And  in  spite  of  the  exploded  hypothesis  on 
which  the  poem  is  based,  and  of  all  the  obsolete 
and  grotesque  notions  w^ith  which  it  abounds,  we 
everywhere  feel  the  presence  of  a  mind  and  soul  in 
living  and  intimate  contact  with  its  subject.  It  is 
perfectly  evident  that  Buchanan  wrote  the  poem  in 
the  conviction  that  he  was  not  only  immortalising 
his  own  genius,  but  that  he  was  doing  the  world  a 
real  service  in  expounding  the  true  theory  of  the 
universe.  As  we  shall  see,  he  was  perfectly  aware 
of  the  new  theory  of  Copernicus.  To  show  the 
folly  of  that  theory,  and  to  denounce  the  popular 
astrology  as  leading  men  to  unworthy  views  both 
of  themselves  and  the  Creator — these  undoubtedly 
were  two  motives  that  had  their  influence  in  his 
choice  of  a  subject.  It  is,  in  truth,  this  ardent 
feeling  of  an  ethical  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  poet 
that  even  still  gives  to  his  work  a  certain  vitality. 

Buchanan's  poem  is  in  large  measure  only  a 

1  Hallam,  Lit.  of  the  Middle  Jges,  vol.  ii.  p.  146. 


164 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


poetical  paraphrase  of  the  famous  text-book  of 
Joannes  de  Sacrobosco  on  the  Sphere/  Sacrobosco's 
book  was  originally  published  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, and  since  the  date  of  its  publication  it  had 
been  the  text-book  of  astronomy  in  all  the  great 
schools  of  Europe.  For  brevity  and  clearnesSj  in- 
deed, it  could  hardly  be  surpassed  as  an  exposition 
of  the  Ptolemaic  conception  of  the  heavens.  In 
Buchanan's  day  it  was  as  popular  as  ever.  His 
colleague  at  Bordeaux  and  intimate  friend,  filie 
Vinet,  published  a  new  edition  of  it,  in  1540, 
with  a  preface,  in  which  he  states  that  Sacrobosco's 
treatise  was  still  unrivalled  as  an  introduction  to 
the  study  of  astronomy.  But  the  remarkable  thing 
is  that  this  book,  with  slight  modification,  remained 
in  use  till  past  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
In  1656,  the  Government  of  Holland  gave  special 
orders  that  Sacrobosco  should  have  a  place  in  the 
schools  of  that  country,  at  the  same  time  suggest- 
ing that  such  alterations  should  be  made  in  it  as 
time  had  made  necessary.  As  edited  by  Burgers- 
dicius  the  mediaeval  Latin  phraseology  was  altered, 
and  certain  additions  were  made ;  but  the  main 
doctrine  that  the  earth  is  the  immovable  centre  of 
the  universe  is  still  as  confidently  asserted  as  if 
Copernicus  had  never  lived. 

It  was,  therefore,  no  perverse  obscurantism  in 
Buchanan  that  between  1550  and  1560  he  began 
this  poem  with  the  purpose  of  expounding  and  em- 
bellishing the  Ptolemaic  theory,  though  the  epoch- 
making  treatise  of  Copernicus,  published  in  1543, 

^  If  Joannes  de  Sacrobosco — that  is,  John  Holybush  or  Holywood — 
were  indeed,  as  some  have  supposed,  a  native  of  Scotland,  he  must  cer- 
tainly be  regarded  as  the  most  famous  of  all  the  "  Scots  Abroad 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


165 


had  shown  that  that  theory  could  be  replaced  by  one 
far  more  simple  and  satisfactory.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  there  were  more  reasons  than  one  why  the 
Copernican  theory  was  so  slow  to  win  general  accept- 
ance. In  the  first  place — and  this  was  doubtless  the 
strongest  reason  of  all — the  entire  Christian  revela- 
tion was  supposed  to  be  bound  up  with  the  doctrine 
that  the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the  universe.  More 
than  a  century  after  the  death  of  Copernicus,  Pascal 
did  not  dare  to  affirm  the  contrary  ;  and  it  has  been 
noted  as  a  proof  of  the  courage  and  good  sense  of 
la  Fontaine  that  he  spoke  of  the  sun  thus  : — 

L'ignorant  le  croit  plat ;  j'epaissis  sa  rondeur, 
Je  le  rends  immobile,  et  la  terre  chemine.^ 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  also,  that  the  Ptolemaic 
theory  actually  did  explain  all  the  phenomena  then 
known,  so  that  to  Buchanan  and  his  contemporaries 
Copernicus  passed  for  a  revolutionary  of  the  most 
unreasonable  type.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
therefore,  that  during  the  sixteenth  century  the 
new  theory  found  but  four  supporters  in  the  whole 
of  Europe.^  There  was  still  another  reason  why 
humanists  like  Buchanan  should  regard  the  new 
teaching  with  contempt.  Pythagoras,  before  Coper- 
nicus, had  taught  that  it  was  the  earth  that  moved 
and  not  the  heavens.  But  Greek  and  Boman 
antiquity  alike  had  rejected  the  teaching  of  Pytha- 
goras ;  and  to  question  the  right  reason  of  Greece 

1  The  case  of  Galileo  is  too  well  known  to  require  mention  ;  and,  be- 
sides, he  died  in  1642.  Milton,  it  will  be  remembered,  adopts  the 
Ptolemaic  system,  though  quite  aware  of  the  claims  of  that  of  Copernicus. 
Addison's  hymn,  beginning  "  The  spacious  firmament  on  high,"  written 
in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is  also  expressed  in  the 
language  of  the  old  cosmogony. 

2  Hallam,  Lit.  of  the  Mid.  Ages,  vol.  ii.  p.  227.  Hallam  names  Wright 
and  Gilbert  as  the  only  two  Englishmen  who  accepted  the  Copernican 
theory  during  the  sixteenth  century. 


166  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


and  Rome  was  a  flight  of  audacity  far  beyond  the 
scholars  of  Buchanan's  day. 

Buchanan's  poem  consists  of  five  books,  the  last 
two  being  incomplete ;  and  from  internal  evidence 
we  gather  that  they  were  all  probably  begun  during 
his  engagement  with  de  Brissac.^  That  he  had  the 
intention  of  completing  the  poem  appears  from  two 
of  his  letters  written  long  after  his  return  to  Scot- 
land. Writing  to  Tycho  Brah^  in  1576,  he  says 
that  for  the  last  two  years  he  has  been  so  pro- 
strate with  all  manner  of  ailments  that  he  had 
been  forced  to  desist  not  only  from  higher  tasks, 
but  from  completing  his  poem  on  the  Sphere.^  To 
another  correspondent,  also,  he  writes  as  late  as 
1579  :  "  My  astronomical  poem  I  have  not  so  much 
cast  aside,  as  been  forced  sorely  against  my  will  to 
give  it  up."^  That  till  within  three  years  of  his 
death,  when  old  age  and  protracted  illness  might  be 
supposed  to  have  quenched  all  his  literary  ambi- 
tions, Buchanan  still  thought  of  adding  the  finish- 
ing touches  to  his  poem,  is  signal  proof  that  he 
considered  the  De  Sphaera  the  most  important 
effort  of  his  genius.  As  but  few  readers  are  likely 
to  make  acquaintance  with  this  the  lengthiest  of 
all  Buchanan's  poems,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
note  a  few  of  the  more  curious  points  in  his  exposi- 
tion of  the  system  of  the  universe. 

As  has  been  said,  Buchanan  closely  follows  the 
arrangement  of  Sacrobosco's  treatise.  The  first  book 
is  occupied  mainly  with  an  exposition  of  the  nature 
and  arrangement  of  the  four  elements,  and  of  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth.  Each  of  the  elements,  he  says, 

1  At  least  he  directly  addresses  his  pupil  in  the  unfinished  books. 

2  Epist  XV. 

^  Epist.  xxvii.  "  Astronomica  non  tarn  abjeci,  quam  extorqueri 
invitus  tuli." 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


167 


has  by  its  nature  a  peculiar  region  of  its  own,  which 
it  finds  by  virtue  of  its  relative  density.  Lowest, 
as  being  heaviest,  is  earth  ;  then  water,  air,  fire,  all 
disposed  in  spheres,  forming  successive  layers  after 
the  manner  of  the  coats  of  an  onion.  That  the 
earth  is  anywhere  above  water  is  due  to  the  special 
providence  of  God.^  All  the  elements  naturally 
tend  to  the  centre  ;  hence  the  earth,  as  the  heaviest 
of  the  elements,  is  necessarily  round,  and  necessarily 
forms  the  centre  of  the  universe.  In  proving  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth,  Buchanan  makes  use  of  the 
same  arguments  and  illustrations  as  Sacrobosco ; 
but  he  is  able  to  add  one  more  cogent  than  all  the 
rest,  which  was  not  accessible  to  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  earth  had  been  circumnavigated  since 
Sacrobosco's  day.  Buchanan  seems  rather  to  have 
regretted  this  fact,  for  the  reason  that  he  saw  but 
one  motive  in  all  the  maritime  enterprise  of  his 
century.  Avarice,  he  thinks,  was  at  the  bottom  of 
it  all ;  and  here  he  has  one  of  his  eloquent  digres- 
sions which  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  poem. 
Where  enlightened  reason  failed,  the  vilest  of 
human  motives  has  succeeded  : — 

Quod  ratio  longis  nisa  est  extundere  seclis, 
Ilia  oculis  hominum  ostendit. 

The  earth,  then,  is  round,  and  is  the  immoveable 
centre  of  things.  Certain  sophists,  indeed,  with 
Pythagoras  as  their  master,  had  taught  that  the 
earth  moves  about  its  own  axis.  But  the  absurdity 
of  such  a  doctrine  is  evident  to  the  simplest  mind. 
What  were  the  spe^d  of  birds  or  of  the  winds  com- 
pared with  the  speed  at  which  the  earth  would 

1  "  Singulari  Dei  providentia  effectum  est,  ut  terra  aliqua  sui  parte 
aquis  extaret,  ad  tuendam  vitam  animantium." — Burgersdicius,  Sacro- 
bosco, p.  9  (edit.  1647). 


168 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


have  to  move  to  meet  the  conditions  of  the  case  ? 
Think,  also,  of  the  noise  made  by  a  boy's  rattle 
when  whirled  round  his  head,  of  the  noise  of  a  sling, 
of  the  air  issuing  from  a  pair  of  bellows  ;  and  con- 
clude what  must  have  been  the  din  of  the  earth, 
with  all  its  mountains,  forests,  and  cities,  whirling 
round  itself,  as  these  sophists  taught.  Moreover, 
if  a  bird  took  the  shortest  flight  into  the  air,  where 
would  its  nest  be  by  the  time  it  descended  ? 

Nec  se 

Auderet  Zephyro  solus  committere  turtur, 
Ne  procul  ablatos  terra  fugiente  Hymenaeos, 
Et  viduum  longo  luctu  defleret  amorem. 

Suppose  two  armies  engaged  in  battle,  the  missiles 
of  the  one  would  reach  their  aim,  but  what  would 
happen  to  the  missiles  of  the  other?  And  then 
how  could  the  sea  keep  its  limits  ?  Must  it  not 
rush  madly  over  the  earth's  surface,  and  sweep 
before  it  all  the  works  of  man  ?  On  the  insignifi- 
cance of  the  earth  in  the  scheme  of  things,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  foolish  pretensions  of  men,  no 
modern  could  descant  more  energetically  than 
Buchanan,  as  the  following  lines,  which  conclude 
the  first  book,  will  show  : — 

0  pudor  !  0  stolidi  praeceps  vesania  voti ! 
Quantula  pars  rerum  est,  in  qua  se  gloria  jactat, 
Ira  freuiit,  metus  exanimat,  dolor  urit,  egestas 
Cogit  opes  ;  ferro,  insidiis,  flamma  atque  veneno 
Cernitur,  et  trepido  fervent  humana  tumultu. 

In  his  second  book,  Buchanan  expounds  the 
system  of  the  Sphere  by  which  Ptolemy  sought  to 
explain  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Into 
this  exposition  we  need  not  follow  him,  as  he  strictly 
follows  the  lines  laid  dovm  for  him  by  Sacrobosco. 
One  passage,  however,  may  be  quoted,  as  showing 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


169 


what  Buchanan  thought  of  Copernicus  and  his 
theory.  He  has  been  speaking  of  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  in  their  respective  spheres. 

Although  reason,"  he  exclaims,  has  clearly 
shown  all  this  to  be  true,  yet  blind  ignorance, 
forsooth,  immersed  in  its  own  darkness,  does  not 
cease  to  rail  aloud,  and  audaciously  to  condemn  the 
heavens  to  rest,  and  to  transform  the  sluggish  earth 
into  a  swiftly  moving  body." 

In  the  third  book,  where  he  gives  an  account  of 
the  various  artificial  contrivances  by  which  men  had 
sought  to  simplify  the  study  of  the  heavens,  two 
passages  deserve  special  notice — a  description  of  the 
Milky  Way,  and  a  few  lines  of  reference  to  the  dis- 
covery of  America.  The  latter  passage  is  introduced 
as  a  final  and  conclusive  proof  that  the  sun  and  stars 
circle  round  the  earth.  "  Although,"  he  says,  "  the 
god-like  mind  of  Posidonius  had  clinched  this  truth 
with  sound  argument,  yet  the  force  of  reason  and 
the  weight  of  his  authority  carried  conviction  to  but 
few,  till  the  fleet  of  Spain,  in  search  of  a  path  to 
shores  abounding  in  glittering  gems,  and  to  the 
Indian  dusky  from  the  nearer  sun,  revealed  the 
secrets  of  the  earth,  brought  forth  what  had  long 
been  hid  in  night,  and  beheld  populous  lands,  where 
the  sun  holds  his  course  through  mid-heaven,  and 
strikes  the  underlying  earth  with  upright  ray, 
piercing  the  soil  of  rich  Taprobane  [Ceylon],  and 
the  Brazilian  plains — abodes  of  all  dehght,  where 
for  every  sense  Nature  pours  forth  her  store  :  there 
the  trees,  elsewhere  barren,  of  their  own  accord  bear 
golden  fruits,  earth  smiles  in  ever-rich  hues,  ambrosial 
odours  exhale  from  grateful  flowers,  and  the  soothing 
breeze  is  quick  with  the  songs  of  birds."    The  above 


170 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


passage  gives  an  idea  of  the  manner  in  which 
Buchanan  relieves  the  technicalities  of  his  subject. 

Of  the  fourth  book  Buchanan  wrote  only  about 
a  hundred  lines,  though  he  had  doubtless  the  inten- 
tion of  making  it  of  the  same  length  as  the  preceding 
three.  The  fifth  book,  which  is  also  unfinished, 
treats  of  the  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon,  with 
especial  reference  to  the  impostures  of  astrology. 
What  Buchanan  thought  of  judicial  astrology,  as  it 
was  called,  does  not  appear  from  this  poem.  In  all 
probability  he  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  his  friend 
filie  Vinet,  who,  in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of 
Sacrobosco,  remarks  that  "  if  one  will  but  apply  his 
judgment  to  the  question,  he  will  understand  that 
the  department  of  astronomy  known  .as  divination 
is  as  much  a  part  of  science  as  the  predictions  of 
doctors,  that  are  rightly  recognised  as  making  part 
of  medicine  Such  is  the  poem  on  which  Buchanan 
confidently  trusted  that  his  fame  must  rest  secure 
against  all  the  assaults  of  time. 

While  Buchanan  was  with  de  Brissac  he  wrote  a 
few  short  poems,  which  deserve  notice  not  only  for 
their  intrinsic  merit,  but  also  as  having  the  most 
direct  bearing  on  his  life  and  opinions.  One  of 
these  is  his  really  fine  ode  addressed  to  Henry  ii. 
on  the  capture  of  Calais  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  in 
1558.  This  ode  is  one  more  proof  of  how  completely 
Buchanan  identified  himself  with  the  fortunes  of  the 
French  people.  He  glories  in  the  humiliation  of 
England,  and  in  the  future  security  of  France  from 
her  invasion.    Of  Mary  of  England  he  speaks  in  the 

^  "  Si  quis  adhibebit  judicium,  intelliget  alteram  partem  artis,  divina- 
tricem,  perinde  esse  partem  physices,  sicut  medicorum  predictiones  par^ 
quaedam  physices  esse  existiraantur." — Elie  Vinet,  Sacrobosco  (1540). 


DE  8PHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS.  171 


following  energetic  fashion  :  **The  queen,  who  knew 
not  how  to  endure  peace,  now  mourns  the  treaties 
she  held  at  nought,  now  dreads  the  imminent 
wrath  of  God,  the  scourge  of  the  avenging  fury. 
The  common  leech  of  subjects  and  enemies,  thirsting 
equally  for  the  blood  of  both,  she  hates  and  fears 
subjects  and  enemies  alike.  By  day  the  dread  of 
war  is  ever  before  her  ;  and  a  blood-guilty  conscience 
and  ghastly  spectres  disturb  her  rest  by  night. 
Thus  doth  offended  justice  exact  expiation ;  thus 
doth  Nemesis  bear  down  stiff-necked  pride ;  and 
thus  to  the  mild  and  just  doth  mild  and  just  heaven 
lend  its  aid." 

Another  poem  belonging  to  this  period  is  among 
the  best  known  of  Buchanan's  productions.  This  is 
his  Epithalamium  on  the  marriage  of  the  Dauphin 
Francis  with  Mary  of  Scotland  in  1558.  We  may 
readily  believe  that  this  marriage  had  his  most 
ardent  approval.  The  idea  of  an  English  in  pre- 
ference to  a  French  alliance,  which  by  this  period 
had  come  to  commend  itself  to  many  of  the  leading 
men  in  Scotland,^  had  certainly  not  as  yet  presented 
itself  to  the  mind  of  Buchanan.  England  was  still 
for  him  the  auld  enemy",  and  the  only  safe  policy 
for  Scotland  a  more  and  more  intimate  union  with 
France.  In  this  alliance,  however,  Buchanan  stoutly 
maintained  that  France  was  quite  as  much  a  gainer 
as  Scotland,  and  that  the  understanding  between 
the  two  countries  must  be  as  between  two  perfectly 
equal  Powers. 

Buchanan's  poem  has  the  stamp  of  genuine 
enthusiasm  from  the  first  line  to  the  last.    Even  of 

^  Cf.  Major,  De  Gest.  Scot,  Lib.  i.  cap.  7  :  "  Dicere  ausim  Anglum 
Scotumque  Regibus  male  suis  consulere,  si  inter  eos  non  semper  matri- 
monia  contrahant,  quatenus  de  utroque  regno  unum  Britanniae  regnum 
faciant." 


172 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


poor  Francis  himself  he  has  things  to  say  which 
seem  odd  if  perversely  construed.  But  the  grave 
de  rH6pital,  who  produced  a  poem  on  the  same 
occasion,  leaves  Buchanan  far  behind  on  this  theme. 
Having  given  the  bridegroom  full  credit  for  all 
his  virtues  and  for  the  greatness  of  his  fortunes, 
Buchanan  reminds  him  that  he  has  by  no  means  the 
worst  of  the  bargain.  In  his  bride  he  has  every 
grace  of  mind  and  person  that  he  could  desire.  In 
the  matter  of  birth  she  is  the  representative  of  the 
most  ancient  line  of  sovereigns  in  the  world — 

Haec  una  centum  de  stirpe  nepotes 
Sceptriferos  numerare  potest,  haec  regia  sola  est, 
Quae  bis  dena  suis  includat  secula  fastis.  ^ 

As  for  dowry,  does  she  not  bring  a  country  rich 
in  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  abounding  in  copper 
and  lead,  whose  mountains  glitter  with  gold  and 
are  compact  with  iron,  whose  rivers  bear  down  all 
manner  of  precious  metals  to  the  sea  ?  It  is,  of 
course,  only  the  vulgar  who  look  to  such  things, 
and  who  make  light  of  everything  but  riches.  But 
his  bride  will  bring  him  something  more  precious 
than  gold.  And  here  follows  his  famous  panegyric 
of  the  Scottish  nation  : — 

Ilia  pharetratis  est  propria  gloria  Scotis,^ 
Cingere  venatu  saltus,  superare  natando 
Flumina,  ferre  famem,  contemnere  frigora  et  aestus  ; 
Nec  fossa  et  muris  patriam,  sed  Marte,  tueri, 


1  As  is  well  known,  the  Scots  not  only  believed  this  themselves,  but 
actually  succeeded  in  persuading  other  nations  to  believe  it. 

2  In  illustration  of  this  line,  Irving  {Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  120) 
quotes  this  sentence: — "Nostra  autem  aetate  [Scotorum]  complurescum 
Carolo  Francorum  rege  Italiam  invaserunt,  qui  sub  ejus  signis  militarent : 
sunt  enim  in  dirigendis  maxime  sagittis  viri  acres  atque  egregii." — 
Crinitus,  De  Honesta  Disciplina.  At  home  the  Scots  had  a  strong  con- 
tempt for  the  bow  as  a  weapon. 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS.  173 


Et  spreta  incolumem  vita  defendere  famam  ; 

PoUiciti  servare  fidem,  sanctumque  vereri 

Numen  araicitiae,  mores,  non  munus  amare. 

Artibus  his,  totum  fremerent  cum  bella  per  orbem, 

Nullaque  non  leges  tellus  mutaret  avitas 

Externo  subjecta  jugo,  gens  una  vetustis 

Sedibus  antiqua  sub  libertate  resedit. 

Substitit  hie  Gothi  furor,  hie  gravis  impetus  haesit 

Saxonis,  hie  Cimber  superato  Saxone,  et  acri 

Perdomito  Neuster  Cimbro.    Si  volvere  priscos 

Non  piget  annales,  hie  et  victoria  fixit 

Praecipitem  Pomana  gradum  :  quem  non  gravis  Auster 

Reppulit,  incultis  non  squalens  Parthia  campis, 

Non  aestu  Meroe,  non  frigore  Rhenus  et  Albis 

Tardavit,  Latium  remorata  est  Scotia  cursum. 

"  The  glory  of  the  quivered  Scots 
Is  the  bold  breast  and  hardy  frame 
That  fear,  nor  want,  nor  toil  can  tame  ; 
Whose  joy  is  in  their  native  woods 
To  chase  and  strike  the  various  game, 
And  fearless  breast  their  mountain  floods  ; 
Whose  good  right  hands  their  soil  can  keep. 
Nor  need  high  walls  nor  fosses  deep  ; 
Who  count  all  gone,  if  honour 's  gone  ; 
Whose  faith  can  ne'er  be  bought  nor  sold  ; 
Who  deem  a  friend  heaven's  dearest  boon  ; 
Who  barter  not  their  soul  for  gold. 
So  was  it,  when  of  old  each  land, 
A  prey  to  every  spoiler's  hand. 
Its  ancient  laws  and  rulers  lost. 
The  Scot  alone  could  freedom  boast ! 
The  Goth,  the  Saxon,  and  the  Dane 
Poured  on  the  Scot  their  powers  in  vain  ; 
And  the  proud  Norman  met  a  foe 
Who  gave  him  equal  blow  for  blow. 
And  I  might  tell,  were  not  twice-told 
The  tale,  how  Rome,  whose  might  controlled 
The  world  beside,  was  taught  to  know 
That  bounds  there  were  she  might  not  pass, 
Though  never  yet  had  been  the  foe. 
Or  man,  or  nature's  direst  force. 
That  e'er  had  stayed  her  onward  course." 


Having  thus  glorified  the  valour  of  the  Scots 
and  their  aptitude  for  war,  he  reminds  the  Dauphin 


174 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


that  their  record  is  no  less  glorious  in  the  arts  of 
peace.  When  the  rest  of  the  world  was  given  up 
to  endless  war,  it  was  among  the  Scots  that  letters 
found  a  home.  When  Charlemagne  opened  his 
schools,  it  was  to  the  Scots  he  appealed  for  his 
doctors.^  It  was  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  also, 
that  the  alliance  between  France  and  Scotland 
was  first  begun — an  alliance  which  no  power  had 
yet  availed  to  break  up.^  Many  a  time  had  France 
had  occasion  to  be  grateful  for  the  friendship  of 
Scotland.  English,  Batavians,  Spaniards,  all  had 
reason  to  know  what  France  owed  to  the  prowess 
of  the  Scots.  And  the  poet  concludes  with  the 
following  prayer  : — Grant  me,  ye  Fates,  this  length 
of  days,  that  I  may  behold  united  in  soul,  subject 
to  the  sway  of  the  brothers  of  one  race,  France  and 
Scotland,  knit  already  through  so  many  ages  by 
mutual  service,  by  leagues,  and  solemn  compact — 
that  I  may  behold  as  one  people  joined  in  concord, 
enduring  as  the  lights  of  heaven,  those  whom  the 
sea  keeps  apart  by  its  waves,  earth  and  sky  by  far- 
stretching  space.''  When  we  remember  what  the 
next  quarter  of  the  century  was  to  bring  forth  for 
Scotland  and  France  alike,  we  must  find  all  the 
irony  and  pathos  of  life  in  this  prayer  of  Buchanan. 
Before  many  years,  he  was  led  to  think  that  the 
alliance  of  France  would  be  for  Scotland  the  most 
disastrous  event  that  could  befall  her.  And,  as  it 
happened,  at  the  very  moment  he  wrote  these  lines 

1  As  is  well  known,  the  Scots  made  unjust  capital  out  of  the  confu- 
sion between  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Mr.  Hill  Burton  has  some  interest- 
ing remarks  on  the  subject  in  his  ^icot  Abroad,  vol.  ii.  Boece  tells  us  that 
Paris  University  began  to  flourish  "  by  the  industry  of  two  Scotsmen". 

^  This  alliance  with  Charlemagne  made  part  of  the  mythical  history 
of  Scotland,  as  accepted  in  Buchanan's  day. 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


175 


it  had  come  to  pass  in  the  inevitable  process  of 
things  that  the  respective  paths  of  France  and 
Scotland  were  henceforth  to  be  wide  as  the  poles 
apart. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  poem  of 
Buchanan  with  that  of  de  I'Hopital,  afterwards 
Chancellor  of  France,  which  was  produced  on  the 
same  occasion.  L'Hopital's  verses  are  bald  and 
awkward  compared  with  Buchanan's,  and  the  spirit 
in  which  they  were  written  is  much  more  suggestive 
of  the  statesman  than  the  poet.  We  learn  from 
him  what,  indeed,  we  know  from  other  sources, 
that  the  Scottish  marriage  was  regarded  by  many 
in  France  as  seriously  compromising  the  dignity  of 
the  French  Crown — 

Namque  maligne 
Quidam  homines  etiam  haec  vulgo  connubia  rodunt. 

On  grounds  of  policy,  however,  de  I'Hopital  strongly 
approves  of  the  alliance.  Mary,  he  reminds  those 
who  opposed  the  match,  brings  a  kingdom  as  her 
dowry — a  kingdom  petty  indeed  compared  with 
France,  yet  one  which  at  many  a  lamentable  crisis 
had  brought  saving  aid  to  France.  So  populous 
a  country  is  Scotland  that  she  is  able  at  once  to 
send  an  invading  army  into  England  and  an  auxili- 
ary army  into  France.  If  France  should  reject 
this  union,  England  may  accept  it ;  and  what 
would  be  the  fate  of  France  if  she  had  to  contend 
with  Scotland  and  England  both  ?  Moreover,  it 
would  be  highly  impolitic  to  give  such  mortal 
offence  to  the  Scottish  Queen.  Married  to  some 
other  prince,  she  would  make  it  the  aim  of  her  life 
to  repay  the  insult  with  interest.  Everything  con- 
sidered, therefore,  I'Hopital  is  of  opinion  that  the 


176 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Scottish  alliance  is  the  wisest  policy  for  France  ;  and 
he  concludes  his  poem  in  a  fashion  which  contrasts 
oddly  with  the  enthusiastic  prayer  of  Buchanan. 
"  By  me,  his  bard,"  he  says,  "  Apollo  predicts  these 
happy  results  (that  will  flow  from  this  union).  My 
posterity,  as  I  trust,  will  say — if,  indeed,  my  strains 
but  live  so  long — 'Long  since  our  ancestor  sang 
that  these  things  would  be,  when  the  majority  of 
men  said  they  would  never  come  to  pass 

In  less  than  three  years  Buchanan  saw  the  ruin 
of  all  the  hopes  that  had  been  founded  on  the  alliance 
he  had  celebrated  with  such  enthusiasm.  Francis 
died  in  December  1560,  on  the  eve  of  the  religious 
wars  that  were  to  devastate  France  for  the 
remainder  of  the  century.  On  this  occasion,  also, 
Buchanan  wrote  a  poem ;  and  perhaps,  among  all 
his  productions,  there  is  not  one  where  he  mounts 
to  a  higher  strain  of  impressive  dignity.  The  poem 
is  entitled  A  Lamentation  on  the  State  of  Affairs 
on  the  Death  of  King  Francis  11.  It  is  curious  to 
note  that  the  poem  does  not  contain  a  single  refer- 
ence to  the  bereavement  of  Mary.  The  loss  of  its 
king  to  the  French  nation  at  one  of  the  most  fateful 
moments  of  its  history,  its  humiliations  abroad,  its 
dissensions  at  home — these  are  the  themes  on  which 
he  now  speaks  in  tones  that  remove  the  poem  quite 
out  of  the  category  of  mere  conventional  effusions. 
In  the  light  of  what  befell  France  in  the  years 
immediately  succeeding  the  death  of  the  young- 
King,  the  following  personification  of  Discord  has  a 
terrible  significance.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
in  less  than  two  years  after  these  lines  were 
written  the  Huguenot  Wars  began.  Discord, 
steeped  to  the  lips  in  foulest  venom,  meditates 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


177 


crimes  more  monstrous  than  all  the  rest.  From 
their  silent  seats  she  summons  to  upper  air  her 
infernal  sisters,  and  plants  in  men's  minds  the  seeds 
of  rage  and  hate.  The  thoughts  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
people  she  turns  to  selfish  aims,  nor  permits  them 
to  lay  to  heart  the  common  weal."  The  last  line  of 
this  poem,  though  it  is  a  touch  in  perfect  keeping 
with  the  age,  has  a  somewhat  grotesque  effect  on 
the  modern  reader.  Having  besought  Heaven  to 
avert  further  evils  from  France,  the  poet  concludes 
with  the  request  that  Heaven  may  be  pleased  to  let 
loose  these  same  evils  on  the  Turks  ! 

Though  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it 
belongs  to  this  period,  we  give  a  place  here  to 
another  poem  of  Buchanan's,  which  affords  the  most 
conclusive  proof,  if  any  were  needed,  that  poetry 
was  indeed  his  natural  language.  This  is  his  poem 
entitled  Calendae  Maiae.  Of  its  poetic  value  we 
have  fortunately  the  opinion  of  Wordsworth  himself 
The  subject  of  the  poem,  it  may  be  said,  is  one  on 
which  Wordsworth  speaks  with  all  his  authority. 
"  I  think  (he  says,  writing  to  the  nephew  who  be- 
came his  biographer)  Buchanan's  Calendae  Maiae 
equal  in  sentiment,  if  not  in  elegance,  to  anything 
in  Horace ;  but  your  brother  Charles,  to  whom  I 
repeated  it  the  other  day,  pointed  out  a  false 
quantity  in  it.     Happily  this  had  escaped  me."^ 

^  Life  of  Wordsworth,  by  Christopher  Wordsworth,  vol.  ii.  p.  466. 
The  following  note  is  attached  to  the  above  passage  :  "  If  I  remember 
right,  it  is  the  line 

'  Ludisque  dicatae,  jocisque 
a  strange  blunder,  for  Buchanan  must  have  read  Horace's  *  Quid 
dedicatum  poscit  Apollinem '  a  hundred  times. "  False  quantities  are 
not  uncommon  with  the  best  scholars  of  Buchanan's  century.  Mr. 
Christie  notes  that  Saumaise  points  out  false  quantities  in  Milton's 
Latin  poetry.  Even  in  Gray  Mr.  Christie  finds  similar  lapses.  —  Zt/e  of 
Etienne  Dolet,  p.  479. 

M 


178  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

Some  readers  may  think  that  Wordsworth's  praise 
might  well  have  been  more  emphatic,  and  that 
Buchanan  s  ode,  by  its  true  poetic  quality,  is  worthy 
of  Horace  when  he  transcends  himself. 

CALENDAE  MAIAE. 

Salvete  sacris  deliciis  sacrae 
Maiae  Calendae,  laetitiae,  et  mero, 
Ludisque  dicatae,  jocisque, 
Et  teneris  Charitum  choreis. 
Salve  voluptas,  et  nitidum  decus 
Anni  recurrens  perpetua  vice, 
Et  flos  renascentis  juventae 
In  senium  properantis  aevi. 
Cum  blanda  veris  temperies  novo 
lUuxit  orbi,  primaque  secula 
Fulsere  flaventi  metallo 
Sponte  sua  sine  lege  justa : 
Talis  per  omnes  continuus  tenor 
Annos  tepenti  rura  Favonio 
Mulcebat,  et  nuUis  feraces 
Seminibus  recreabat  agros. 
Talis  beatis  incubat  insulis 
Felicis  aurae  perpetuus  tepor, 
Et  nesciis  campis  senectae 

Difficilis,  querulique  morbi.  , 
Talis  silentum  per  tacitum  nemus 
Levi  susurrat  murmure  spiritus, 
Lethenque  juxta  obliviosam 
Funereas  agitat  cupressos. 
Forsan  supremis  cum  Deus  ignibu 
Piabit  orbem,  laetaque  secula 
Mundo  reducet,  talis  aura 
Aethereos  aniinos  fovebit. 
Salve  fugacis  gloria  seculi. 
Salve  secunda  digna  dies  nota, 
Salve  vetustae  vitae  imago, 
Et  specimen  venientis  aevi. 

THE  FIRST  OF  MAY. 

Hail !  sweetest  day, 
Day  of  all  pure  delight ; 
Whose  gracious  hours  invite 


DE  SPHAERA  AND  OTHER  POEMS. 


179 


To  mirth  and  song  and  dance, 
And  wine,  and  love's  soft  glance. 
Welcome  !  with  all  thy  bright  hours  bring 
Of  quickened  life  and  beauty's  dower — 
The  certain  heritage  of  spring. 
In  thee  each  year  doth  hoary  time 
Renew  the  glories  of  his  prime  ! 

When,  still  rejoicing  in  her  birth, 
Spring  brightened  all  the  new-made  earth, 
And  in  that  happy  golden  age 
Men  knew  no  lawless  passion's  rage, 
Thy  train  of  joys  embraced  the  year  ; 
Soft  breezes  wooed  the  untilled  field 
Its  blessings  all  unforced  to  yield. 

Even  in  such  mildest  atmosphere 
For  ever  bask  those  happy  isles. 
Those  blessed  plains,  that  never  know 
Life's  slow  decay,  or  poisoned  flow. 

Thus  'mid  the  still  abodes  of  death 
Should  steal  the  soft  air's  softest  breath. 
And  gently  stir  the  solemn  wood 
That  glooms  o'er  Lethe's  dreamless  flood. 

And,  haply,  when  made  pure  of  stain 
By  cleansing  fire,  the  earth  renewed 
Shall  know  her  ancient  joys  again. 
Even  such  mild  air  shall  o'er  her  brood  ! 

Thou  crown  of  the  world's  failing  age. 
Of  life's  sad  book  one  happy  page, 
Hail !  sweetest  day — memorial  bright 
Of  early  innocent  delight. 
And  sure  pledge  of  the  coming  day 
When  it  shall  be  eternal  May. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT. 
1561-1567. 

The  first  notice  we  have  of  Buchanan  after  his 
return  to  his  native  country  is  in  a  letter  of  Ran- 
dolph, the  English  resident  at  the  Scottish  Court, 
to  Cecil,  the  minister  of  Elizabeth.  The  letter  is 
dated  Edinburgh,  30th  January  1561-2:  "  Ther 
is  with  the  queue  one  called  Mr.  George  Bowhanan, 
a  Scottishe  man,  verie  well  lerned,  that  was  the 
schoUemaster  unto  Monsr.  de  Brisack's  sone,  very 
godlye  and  honest."  On  the  7th  of  April,  also, 
Randolph  wrote  from  St.  Andrews  :  "  The  queen 
readeth  daily  after  her  dinner,  instructed  by  a 
learned  man  Mr.  George  Bowhannan,  somewhat  of 
Lyvie."  Randolph  came  to  be  better  acquainted 
with  Buchanan,  and  to  esteem  the  acquaintance  a 
privilege  ;  ^  and  it  is  him  we  have,  in  all  likelihood, 
to  thank  for  the  Latin  sketch  of  Buchanan's  life 
which  has  formed  the  basis  of  all  his  biographies. 
In  the  following  year  we  find  another  notice, 
which  indicates  that  Buchanan  had  other  employ- 
ment besides  reading  with  Mary.  In  the  Register 
of  the  Privy  Council  there  is  an  entry,  under 
date  6th  February  1562-3,  to  the  efiect  that 
Buchanan,  along  with  another,  had  been  appointed 

^  Randolph  had  been  a  pupil  of  Buchanan  in  Paris. 
180 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  181 

"  to  interpreit  the  writtis  producit  in  proces  writtin 
in  Spainis  langage  furth  of  the  same  in  Franche, 
Latyne,  or  Inglis,  that  the  Quenis  grace  and  Coun- 
sale  mycht  thaireftir  understand  the  samyn 

From  all  that  we  have  seen  of  Buchanan  up 
to  this  point  it  may  readily  be  believed  that  his 
feeling  towards  Mary  must  have  been  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  Knox,  who  saw  in  her  simply 
the  victim  of  the  most  terrible  of  all  delusions,  and 
the  most  formidable  of  all  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  national  salvation.  Buchanan  had  joined  the 
Church  of  Knox  on  his  return  to  Scotland  ;  but  his 
whole  manner  of  life  till  then,  his  varied  experience 
of  men  and  things,  the  free  play  of  thought  and 
feeling  that  came  to  him  from  his  humanistic  train- 
ing, would  enable  him  easily  to  bridge  the  differ- 
ence of  religious  faith,  and  fully  to  appreciate  the 
grace  and  quickness  of  mind  that  distinguished 
Mary  above  most  women  of  her  time.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mary  must  have  found  in  Buchanan  what  she 
could  hardly  have  found  in  any  other  of  her  sub- 
jects. A  peculiar  bond  between  them  must  have 
been  their  common  love  and  common  memories  of 
France.  "  Mary,"  says  Sir  James  Melville,  "  was 
somewhat  sad  when  solitary  ;  and  was  glad  of  the 
company  of  such  as  had  travelled  to  other  king- 
doms." It  would  appear,  moreover,  that  Buchanan 
was  not  altogether  wanting  in  the  qualifications 
that  make  men  acceptable  at  Courts.  There  is  a 
certain  discrepancy  in  the  portraits  of  him  that 
have  come  down  to  us ;  but  from  descriptions  of 
him  by  different  observers  we  can  form  a  sufficiently 
distinct  notion  of  how  he  looked  and  bore  himself. 
In  all  his  portraits  he  appears  with  strongly  marked 


182  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


features,  the  forehead  of  the  same  dome-like  shape 
as  Scott's,  and  the  mouth  and  chin  indicative  of 
strength  and  individuahty.  His  usual  expression 
was  grave  even  to  severity.  He  had  a  slight  stoop 
as  he  walked,  and  his  general  appearance  was 
homely  and  rustic.^  In  his  latter  years,  at  least, 
he  appears  to  have  been  careless  in  the  matter  of 
dress,  as  the  following  curious  reference  to  him 
shows  :  "  The  dowblet  ye  caust  mak  to  Duncane  is 
now  vp  at  the  slot  of  his  breist.  Ye  wald  say 
that  he  wearis  his  belt  as  men  sayis  Mr.  George 
Buchanan  did  weare  his,  the  dowblet  is  growen  so 
schort."  ^  But  while  his  outward  man  was  thus  so 
uncourtier-like,  his  manners  and  style  of  speech 
were  those  of  one  familiar  with  the  most  polished 
society.  Bonsard,  on  such  a  question  the  best  of 
judges,  was  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  Buchanan, 
Turnebe,  Muret,  and  Gouvea  had  nothing  of  the 
pedant  about  them  but  the  cap  and  gown.^  And 
Sir  James  Melville,  who  had  himself  seen  more  of 
the  world  than  most  Scotsmen  of  his  time,  says  that 
Buchanan  was  "  pleasant  in  conversation,  rehearsing 
at  all  occasion  moralities  short  and  instructive, 
whereof  he  had  abundance,  inventing  where  he 
wanted  ".^  According  to  the  witness  quoted  below, 
also,  he  had  "  the  air  and  speech  of  a  finished  man 

1  "  Erat  austero  supercilio,  et  toto  corporis  habitu  imo  moribus  hie 
noster  subagrestis  ;  sed  stylo  et  sermone  perurbanus,  quuin  saepissime, 
vel  in  seriis,  multo  cum  sale  jocaretur.  Denique  vir  quern  mirari 
facilius  quam  digne  praedicare  possis." — David  Buchanan,  De  Scriptori- 
hus  Scotis  Illustribus.  (Quoted  by  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan^ 
p.  314.) 

2  From  a  letter  written  in  1619  by  Mr.  W.  Bowie,  tutor  to  the  sons 
of  Glenfalloch.  (Given  in  Cosmo  Innes's  Sketches  of  Early  Scotch 
History,  Appendix,  pp.  521,  522.) 

De  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  vol.  viii.  p.  665. 
*  Melville,  Memoirs,  p.  250  (ed.  Edin.  1735). 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  183 

of  the  world,  being  in  the  habit  of  lighting  up  even 
his  most  serious  conversation  by  humorous  sallies 
With  such  a  man,  though  he  had  now  passed  his 
fiftieth  year,  we  may  be  sure  that  Mary,  keen-witted 
as  she  was  and  delighting  in  originality  of  character, 
would  not  confine  her  intercourse  to  the  letter  of 
Livy.  Both,  as  we  know,  in  their  own  manner, 
were  noted  for  a  certain  hardiness  of  speech ;  and 
we  may  fancy  that  there  would  be  many  a  trial  of 
wits  between  the  old  scholar  and  his  brilKant  pupil. 
With  the  possible  exception  of  her  secretary,  Mait- 
land,  there  was  no  man  in  Scotland  whose  conversa- 
tion could  have  been  more  piquant  and  refreshing 
to  Mary. 

The  reading  of  Livy  must  have  been  but  inter- 
mittent, since  during  the  four  years  before  her 
marriage  with  Darnley,  Mary  visited  almost  every 
corner  of  her  dominions.  As  St.  Andrews,  however, 
came  to  be  Buchanan's  chief  residence,  he  would 
be  frequently  brought  into  contact  with  the  Court, 
Mary  much  preferring  that  town  to  Edinburgh. 
That  he  was  on  excellent  terms,  both  with  the 
Queen  and  the  ladies  who  attended  on  her,  is 
proved  by  various  epigrams,  whose  tone  implies  at 
once  the  privilege  of  age  and  easy  intercourse.  To 
Mary  Fleming  and  Mary  Beaton  he  has  addressed 
eight  such  epigrams,  all  written  in  a  spirit  of  mock 
gallantry,  which  proves  that  in  spite  of  his  failing 
health  and  his  new  theological  bent  he  still  retained 
something  of  the  old  leaven  of  humanism.  To  Mary 
herself  he  addressed  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  admired  of  all  his  shorter  poems — the  charm- 
ing epigram  in  which  he  dedicates  to  her  his  para- 
phrase of  the  Psalms.    The  second  edition  of  this 


184  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


paraphrase,  as  has  already  been  said,  was  published 
by  Henri  Estienne  at  Paris  in  1566  ;^  and  it  was 
doubtless  mainly  with  the  intention  of  superintend- 
ing its  publication  that  Buchanan  about  that  date 
paid  a  short  visit  to  France.^  Although  the  poem 
referred  to  has  been  many  times  quoted,  it  cannot 
but  have  a  place  in  every  biography  of  Buchanan  : — 

Nympha,  Caledoniae  quae  nunc  feliciter  orae 

Missa  per  innumeros  sceptra  tueris  avos  ; 
Quae  sortem  antevenis  meritis,  virtutibus  annos, 

Sexum  animis,  morum  nobilitate  genus, 
Accipe  (sed  facilis)  cultu  donata  Latino 

Carmina,  fatidici  nobile  regis  opus. 
Ilia  quidem  Cirrha  procul  et  Permesside  lympha 

Pene  sub  Arctoi  sidere  nata  poli : 
Non  tamen  ausus  eram  male  natum  exponere  foetum, 

Ne  mihi  displiceant  quae  placuere  tibi. 
Nam  quod  ab  ingenio  domini  sperare  nequibant, 

Debebunt  genio  forsitan  ilia  tuo. 

"  0  daughter  of  a  hundred  kings 

That  boldest  'neath  thy  happy  sway 
This  ancient  realm  of  Caledon  ; 

Whose  worth  outstrips  thy  destiny ; 
Whose  mind  thy  sex  ;  whose  grace  thy  peers  ; 
Whose  virtues  leave  behind  thy  years — 
Behold  in  Roman  garb  I  bring 
The  work  of  Israel's  prophet-King. 
Rude  is  my  song  as  born  afar 
From  the  Muse-haunted  founts  of  Greece, 
Under  the  frigid  Northern  star  ; 
And  but  that  aught  that  pleases  thee 
Must  ne'er  displeasing  seem  to  me, 
It  had  not  looked  on  eyes  save  mine  ; 
Yet  such  a  virtue  flows  from  thine. 
Perchance  my  sorry  child  may  own 
Some  graces  that  are  thine  alone  !  " 


^  It  should  be  said  that  the  date  of  the  first  edition,  also  from  the 
press  of  Stephens,  is  not  known.    This  edition  bears  no  date. 

2  That  Buchanan  visited  France  at  this  time  is  proved  by  a  letter  of 
Daniel  Rogers,  given  in  Ruddiman's  general  introduction  to  Buchanan's 
Works  ;  by  Bjnst.  i.  in  Ruddiman's  edition  ;  and,  lastly,  by  a  letter  of 
Randolph  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  January  29th,  1567. 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  185 


During  the  first  years  after  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, Buchanan  seems  to  have  held  no  fixed  appoint- 
ment, though  from  his  close  connection  with  the 
Court,  and  the  frequent  demands  the  Queen  made 
on  his  poetical  powers,  we  may  regard  him  as  in 
some  measure  fulfilling  the  function  of  a  poet- 
laureate.  On  three  several  occasions  he  wrote  short 
Latin  masques  for  the  Court — on  the  return  of  Mary 
from  France,  on  her  marriage  with  Darnley,  and  on 
the  baptism  of  her  son  James/  On  behalf  of  Mary 
herself  he  also  wrote  complimentary  verses  to 
Elizabeth,  which  in  the  light  of  the  subsequent 
relations  of  all  three  now  read  strangely  enough. 
Thus  Mary,  sending  Elizabeth  a  heart  cut  in 
diamond,  accompanies  her  present  with  these  lines 
expressly  written  by  Buchanan  : — 

Quod  te  jampridem  fruitur,  videt,  ac  amat  absens, 
Haec  pignus  cordis  gemma,  et  imago  mei  est. 

Non  est  candidior,  non  est  haec  purior  illo, 
Quamvis  dura  magis,  non  mage  firma  tamen. 

"  The  pledge  and  image  of  a  heart 
Whose  constant  joy  and  pride  thou  art — 
This  gem  is  not  more  fair,  more  pure, 
Nor,  though  more  hard,  will  more  endure." 

As  is  well  known,  such  a  position  in  connection 
with  Courts  was  common  enough  with  scholars 
during  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the  enthusiasm 
for  the  new  studies,  it  came  to  be  the  fashion  with 
princes  and  other  great  persons  to  have  attached  to 
them  some  scholar  or  scholars,  who  should  make 
part  of  the  adornment  of  their  Court.  The  mere 
presence  of  the  scholar  and  his  occasional  services 
on  State  occasions  of  business  or  pleasure  were  sup- 
posed to  deserve  both  honour  and  remuneration. 

1  For  the  manner  in  which  these  masques  were  represented  see  Joseph 
Robertson's  Inventories  of  Queen  Mary. 


186 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


As  scholars  were  not  over-abundant  in  Scotland, 
and  Buchanan  was  in  simple  truth  the  most  cele- 
brated then  living  in  the  British  Islands,  we  may 
believe  that  Mary,  who  was  not  without  a  genuine 
interest  in  literature,  was  perfectly  aware  that  a 
subject  of  Buchanan's  distinction  lent  a  certain 
lustre  to  her  Court. 

For  Buchanan's  general  services  we  learn  from  two 
entries  in  the  Treasurer's  Accounts  for  1562  that  he 
received  an  annual  pension  of  250  pounds  Scots. ^ 
As  throwing  light  on  the  relative  value  of  this 
amount,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  a  few  weeks 
before  his  murder  Bizzio  received  from  Mary  and 
Darnley  200  pounds  "  for  the  reparatiounis  of  his 
chalmer",^  and  that  the  authors  of  the  Book  of 
Discipline  fixed  200  pounds  as  the  annual  salaries  of 
the  principals  of  colleges.  From  the  cases  of  Hector 
Boece  and  the  poet  Dunbar  we  gather  that  it  was 
customary  to  grant  such  conditional  pensions, 
pending  the  promotion  of  the  recipient  to  some 
benefice.^  It  would  seem  that  this  pension  of  250 
pounds  did  not  suffice  to  meet  even  the  modest 
wants  of  a  celibate  scholar.  It  is  certain,  at  least, 
that,  during  all  his  years  in  Scotland,  Buchanan 
was  constantly  in  straits  for  money.  Both  before 
and  after  the  dethronement  of  Mary  we  have 
sundry  begging  epigrams  which  sufficiently  indicate 
the  state  of  his  purse ;  and  the  condition  of 
his  affairs  at  his  death  is  one  of  the  common- 
places of  literary  history.  What  this  chronic  state 
of  neediness  may  imply  it  is  difficult  to  say.  In 

1  "  Item  to  Maister  George  Buchquhannane  for  his  pensioun  of  the 
said  [Whitsunday]  terme  [1562]       .       .       .       .       jc  xxv  li." 

2  Kobertson,  Inventories  of  Queen  Mary,  p.  xci. 
2  Laing,  Introduction  to  Dunbar's  Poems,  p.  30. 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  187 

the  case  of  Erasmus,  we  have  the  same  constant 
appeals  (though  in  much  less  dignified  fashion  than 
Buchanan's)  for  pecuniary  assistance  ;  but  Erasmus 
was  a  person  of  far  more  luxurious  habits  than 
Buchanan  could  ever  have  been.  It  may  be,  how- 
ever, that  Buchanan  had  all  the  proverbial  inca- 
pacity of  poets  for  domestic  accounts  ;  and  we  have 
it  on  the  authority  of  Joseph  Scaliger  that  he  was 
a  despiser  of  riches.^  At  all  events,  he  came  to 
hold  appointments  whose  emoluments  should  have 
been  amply  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  a  scholar 
who,  like  Buchanan,  was  ''something  of  a  Stoick 
philosopher".  Yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  in 
this  chaotic  period  of  Scottish  history  the  promise 
to  pay  by  no  means  implied  its  fulfilment.  In  the 
scramble  for  wealth  that  followed  the  ruin  of  the 
old  Church,  and  accompanied  the  incessant  changes 
in  the  management  of  public  afiairs,  the  strongest 
and  most  unscrupulous  laid  hands  on  all  the  prizes, 
and  diverted  the  public  funds  from  their  proper 
channels.  Of  this  we  have  a  signal  example  in  the 
case  of  one  particular  gift  of  Mary  to  Buchanan, 
and  it  may  be  taken  as  an  illustration  of  the  pre- 
carious nature  of  the  incomes  of  those  peaceful 
persons  who  depended  on  grants  from  the  State. 

Among  the  rich  spoils  of  the  old  Church  was 
the  famous  Abbey  of  Crossraguel  in  Ayrshire,  which 
for  forty  years  before  the  Reformation  had  enjoyed 
the  immediate  protection  of  the  Earls  of  Cassillis.^ 

1  In  his  epitaph  on  Buchanan,  already  quoted,  he  says  : — 

"  Contemptis  opibus,  spretis  popularibus  auris, 
Ventosaeque  fugax  ambition  is,  obis." 

^  For  what  follows  regarding  Buchanan's  relations  to  Crossraguel,  I 
am  indebted  to  the  Charters  of  the  Abbey  of  Crossraguel,  printed  for  the 
Ayrshire  and  Galloway  Archaeological  Association,  Edin.  1886.  It 


188 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Its  valuation,  as  rendered  in  accordance  with  a 
decree  of  the  Privy  Council  in  1561,  was  £409,  13s. 
4d.  per  annum.  On  the  9th  October  1564,  Mary 
conferred  on  Buchanan,  under  a  gift  of  Privy  Seal, 
a  pension  of  500  pounds  Scots  from  the  lands  of  this 
Abbey,  together  with  the  whole  temporality  of  the 
Abbey  as  well  as  the  monastic  buildings.  It  was 
added  in  the  terms  of  the  gift,  "  gif  the  samyn  sail 
not  be  fundin  sufficient  and  eneuch  for  zeirlie  payment 
of  the  said  sum  of  fy ve  hundred  poundis,  in  that  case 
her  majesty  assynis  to  him  [Buchanan]  sa  mekle 
as  he  sail  lack  of  the  said  temporalitie  of  the 
readiest  teyndis  and  fruitis  of  the  spiritualitie  of 
the  said  Abbaye,  viz.,  of  the  Kirkis  of  Govane  and 
Kirkoswald  belangand  thairto".  It  thus  seemed 
that,  by  the  generosity  of ,  Mary,  Buchanan's  in- 
terests were  thenceforth  safe.  As  the  sequel  shows, 
however,  the  gift  proved  one  of  doubtful  felicity. 
Before  the  month  was  out  in  which  the  gift  was 
granted,  we  find  an  order  of  the  Privy  Council  bear- 
ing  that  Mr.  George  Buchanan  had  complained  to 
them  that  the  Earl  of  Cassillis  (the  son  of  Buchan- 
an's former  pupil)  had  entered  within  the  Abbey  of 
Crossraguel  since  the  decease  of  Abbot  Quentin, 
and  would  not  deliver  it  to  Mr.  George  Buchanan  ; 
therefore  the  Lords  of  Council  ordain  letters  charg- 
ing the  Earl  of  Cassillis  to  deliver  the  same  to  the 
said  Mr.  George  within  six  days,  under  pain  of 
horning.  The  following  year,  19th  July  1565,  the 
Abbacy  was  gifted  by  Mary  to  Allan  Stewart,  laird 
of  Cardonald,  and  in  February  1566-7  the  Earl  of 

may  be  said  that  till  the  publication  of  these  charters  Buchanan's  exact 
debt  to  Mary,  as  "  pensionary  "  of  Crossraguel,  had  never  been  accurately 
stated.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Buchanan's  other  pension  ceased  on 
the  gift  of  Crossraguel. 


SCOTLAND  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  189 


Cassillis  obtained  a  lease  of  the  same  Abbacy  from 
Mary  and  Darnley,  free  from  all  rent.  Thus,  count- 
ing the  Abbot  who  had  succeeded  Quintin  Kennedy, 
there  were  no  fewer  than  four  persons  interested  in 
the  Abbacy.  Accordingly,  though  Buchanan  styled 
himself  "  Pensionarius  de  Crossraguel the  pension 
was  by  no  means  always  forthcoming.  In  April 
1568  he  disposed  of  it  to  Allan  Stewart  for  the 
yearly  payment  of  500  pounds  ;  and  in  the  following 
January  he  assigned  it  to  Cassillis,  complaining 
that  it  had  been  "  restand  owand"  to  him  for 
several  years  past.  By  this  assignation  the  Earl 
agreed  to  pay  to  Buchanan  the  sum  of  980  marks. 
On  the  way  in  which  Cassillis  kept  his  bargain  we 
have  a  significant  commentary  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  him  by  the  Earl  of  ^  Mar  so  late  as  the  5  th  July 
1572.  In  this  letter  Mar  begs  him  to  "remember 
Maister  George  Buchannan,  and  to  bring  with 
you  sumquhat  for  his  satisfaction  of  his  pension 
Finally,  in  1573,  Buchanan  sold  his  pension  to  the 
laird  of  Bargany  for  the  annual  sum  of  400  pounds. 
Whether  Bargany  met  his  claim  more  satisfactorily 
than  Cassillis  is  not  recorded. 

As  illustrating  the  easy  terms  on  which  Buchan- 
an must  have  stood  with  Mary,  and  as  showing  at 
the  same  time  the  impecuniosity  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  the  following  two  epigrams  may  be  taken 
as  examples.  The  lines  are  supposed  to  be  accom- 
panied by  copies  of  verses  : — 

Ad  Mariam  Scotiae  Reqinam. 

Do  quod  adest  :  opto  quod  abest  tibi  :  dona  darentur 

Aurea,  sors  animo  si  foret  aequa  meo. 
Hoc  leve  si  credis,  paribus  me  ulciscere  donis  : 

Et  quod  abest,  opta  tu  mihi  :  da  quod  adest. 


190 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


"  I  give  you  what  I  have, 

I  wish  you  what  you  lack  ; 
And  weightier  were  my  gift 
Were  fortune  at  my  back. 

Perchance  you  think  I  jest  ? 

A  like  jest  then  I  crave  : 
Wish  for  me  what  I  lack, 

And  give  me  what  you  have." 

Ad  eandem. 

Invida  ne  veterem  tollant  oblivia  morem, 
Haec  tibi  pro  xenio  carmina  pauca  damns 

Sunt  mala ;  sed  si  vis,  poterunt  divina  videri ; 
Nam  nunc  quod  magno  venditur  sere  bonum  est. 

"  A  good  old  custom  should  not  cease  ; 
Keceive  these  songs,  then,  as  of  old. 
Poor  stuff  ?    But  good  or  bad  is  now 

Just  what  things  fetch  in  weight  of  gold." 

While  Buchanan  was  on  this  excellent  footing 
with  Mary,  he  nevertheless  distinctly  showed  on 
what  side  his  sympathies  lay  on  the  questions  at 
issue  between  her  and  the  Protestant  party.  From 
1563  he  sat  for  four  successive  years  as  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Reformed  Church.  In 
1563  he  was  one  of  the  Commissioners  appointed 
to  revise  the  Book  of  DiscipHne.  In  1564,  along 
with  Knox  and  others,  he  made  one  of  the  Com- 
mitee  to  confer  about  the  causes  appertaining  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Kirk,  and  to  report  their 
judgment  to  the  next  convention".  In  1565,  he 
and  five  others  "  were  ordained  to  convene  and  sit 
from  six  till  eight  in  the  morning,  to  decide  ques- 
tions propounded  or  to  be  propounded,  and  to  report 
their  decision  to  the  Assembly";  and  in  1566  he 
made  one  of  a  similar  commission.  It  is  well 
known  that  Mary's  special  aversion  was  the  General 
Assembly,  at  which  her  government  was  discussed 
with  a  frankness  that  must  have  contrasted  pain- 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  191 


fully  with  the  subservience  of  French  parliaments. 
That  Buchanan,  therefore,  could  thus  take  such  a 
prominent  part  in  these  assemblies,  and  yet  remain 
in  friendly  understanding  with  Mary,  is  conclusive 
proof  that  he  stood  on  an  entirely  different  footing  in 
the  country  from  Knox  and  the  ministers  of  the  Con- 
gregation. They  were  reformers,  and  nothing  else. 
Buchanan  approved  of  the  same  cause ;  but  he  had 
other  interests,  and  the  memory  of  a  life  behind  him 
which  made  genial  intercourse  possible  with  those 
who  differed  most  widely  from  himself  on  the 
deepest  questions. 

That  Buchanan  was  also  on  intimate  relations 
with  Mary's  brother,  the  Earl  of  Moray,  is  proved  by 
several  circumstances.  To  him,  also,  he  addresses 
begging  epigrams  in  the  same  tone  of  mingled 
respect  and  familiarity  with  which  he  addresses 
Mary.  In  all  probability  it  is  to  some  period  before 
1567  that  these  epigrams  are  to  be  referred. 

Ad  Jacobum  Moraviae  Comitem. 

Si  magis  est,  ut  Ohristus  ait,  donare  beatum, 

Quam  de  munifica  dona  referre  manu  : 
Aspice  quam  foveam  tibi :  sis  ut  dando  beatus, 

Non  renuo  fieri,  te  tribuente,  miser. 

"  It  is  more  blest,  saith  Holy  Writ, 
To  give  than  to  receive  ; 
How  great,  then,  is  your  debt  to  me, 
Who  take  whate'er  you  give  !  " 

Ad  eundem. 

Sera,  Jacobe,  quideni  sunt,  parvaque  munera  nostra  : 

Hac  in  re  vitium  si  quod  inesse  putas, 
Ne  sectare  meam,  sed  contra  corrige  culpam, 

Et  cito,  sed  larga  munera  redde  manu. 

^*  Niggard  and  laggard  came  my  gift,  you  say, 
Then  must  I  deem  your  duty  clear  indeed  ; 
By  good  example  this  my  fault  amend  : 

Let  thy  gift  come  with  bounty  and  with  speed." 


192 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


To  Moray,  also,  he  dedicated  his  Franciscanus 
in  its  completed  form,  and  in  terms  which  prove 
that  he  shared  with  the  Protestant  leaders  their 
admiration  of  him.  Having  described  the  origin  of 
the  satire,  and  the  persecution  to  which  it  had 
subjected  him,  he  proceeds :  ''At  length,  after 
twenty -four  ^  years  of  exile,  when,  by  the  consent 
of  the  Scottish  nobility,  the  tyranny  of  the  friars 
had  been  suppressed,  I  began  to  retouch  my  Satire, 
undertaken  at  the  command  of  the  King,  and  inter- 
rupted by  the  vicissitudes  of  public  affairs,  and  the 
untowardness  of  my  own.  As  soon  as  my  cir- 
cumstances permitted  me  to  complete  it,  I  deter- 
mined to  give  it  to  the  world  under  your  name  in 
preference  to  that  of  any  one  else,  as  the  one  man 
who  above  all  others  has  done  most  to  clear  the 
country  of  these  monsters — a  work  you  performed 
with  such  vigour  that  you  have  made  simple  reality 
of  those  fables  which  the  Greeks,  the  most  ingenious 
and  instructed  of  peoples,  relate  of  Hercules  in  the 
wildest  flights  of  their  fancy.  Moreover,  by  your 
notable  virtue,  you  have  so  effectually  restored 
simple  primitive  religion,  that,  now  the  seeming'  im- 
possibility has  been  accomplished,  our  delight  is  not 
less  than  our  admiration.  Let  me  add  that  it 
seemed  to  me  but  just  that  the  debt  I  left  unpaid 
to  your  father,  I  should,  though  somewhat  late  in 
the  day,  make  good  to  the  son  who  walks  so  heed- 
fully  in  that  father  s  steps  ;  and  this  I  trust  I  have 
now  done  in  such  wise  that  the  years  will  seem  to 
you  to  have  brought  a  goodly  interest."  In  1566, 
Moray  acknowledged  Buchanan's  attentions  by 
appointing  him  to  a  post  for  which  his  training 

^  This  statement  is  chronologically  not  quite  accurate. 


SCOTLAND  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  193 


peculiarly  fitted  him.  As  Commendator  of  the 
Priory  of  St.  Andrews,  Moray  had  the  right  of 
nominating  to  the  principalship  of  the  College  of 
St.  Leonard ;  and  a  vacancy  occurring  in  that  year, 
he  appointed  Buchanan.-^  Of  Buchanan's  relations 
with  St.  Andrews  University  an  account  will  be 
given  in  another  place. 

Till  the  murder  of  Darnley  in  1567  Buchanan 
continued  on  the  same  friendly  footing  with  Mary 
and  the  Protestant  party  alike.  That  he  did  not 
take  the  same  view  of  the  Darnley  marriage  as 
Moray  and  Knox  is  conclusively  proved  by  the 
poems  he  wrote  in  its  celebration,  as  well  as  by 
some  lines  he  has  addressed  to  Darnley  himself 
The  objection  of  Moray  and  Knox  to  the  mar- 
riage was  that  it  threatened  the  newly  established 
religion.  Buchanan  would  certainly  have  con- 
sidered it  a  national  misfortune  had  the  old  religion 
been  restored ;  yet  it  cannot  be  said  of  him,  as  of 
Knox,  that  he  lived  and  moved  in  the  questions  that 
divided  the  two  Churches.  Moreover,  there  was  a 
reason,  which  must  have  had  a  weight  of  its  own  in 
determining  the  view  he  took  of  Mary's  second 
marriage.  Darnley  was  the  son  of  the  head  of  the 
clan  of  Lennox,  and  in  his  exaltation  to  the  throne 
Buchanan  would  see  the  glorification  of  the  clan  to 
which  he  himself  belonged.  Buchanan  would  have 
been  no  good  Scotsman  had  he  not  been  susceptible 
to  such  feelings,  and  Buchanan  was  a  Scotsman 
to  the  core.  Of  the  Court  poem  he  wrote  on  the 
occasion  it  would  be  easy  to  make  too  much.  Such 
poems  of  the  Latinists  of  the  sixteenth  century 
are  as  purely  official  as  the  dresses  and  decora- 

^  Sihbaldi  Comment  in  Vitam  Buchanani,  p.  65. 
N 


194  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


tions  made  to  order  by  the  Court  tradesmen.^  In 
the  poem,  however,  which  he  addressed  to  Darnley 
himself,  it  may  be  supposed  that  he  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  desires  if  not  to  his  convictions.  It 
was  written  in  January  1566  or  1567  ;  if  in  the 
latter  year,  the  prayer  with  which  it  concludes 
received  a  terrible  commentary  a  month  later  in 
the  tragedy  of  the  Kirk  of  Field.  All  men, 
says  Buchanan,  pour  forth  their  own  prayers  at 
the  beginning  of  a  new  year.  The  farmer  implores 
a  good  harvest,  the  soldier  active  service,,  the  mer- 
chant peace.  Some  pray  for  riches,  some  for  power, 
some  for  glory.  For  his  [Buchanan's]  part,  he  has 
but  one  boon  to  ask  of  Heaven — that  Darnley  may 
be  preserved.  *'With  thy  safety,"  he  concludes, 
"  all  happiness  must  follow  to  thy  kingdom."  ^  The 
prayer  is  a  singular  one,  as  we  now  estimate 
Darnley ;  but  in  his  History  also  Buchanan  has  no 
hard  words  to  say  of  him,  though  he  nowhere  seeks 
to  credit  him  with  virtues  he  did  not  possess. 

Such  being  Buchanan's  attitude  towards  the 
marriage  of  Mary  and  Darnley,  and  his  general 
relations  with  the  Court,  it  must  be  considered 
as  a  singular  testimony  to  his  estimation  in  the 
country  that  Knox,  then  at  the  height  of  his 
antagonism  to  Mary,  could  in  1566  write  the  follow- 
ing sentence :  "  That  notable  man,  Mr.  George 
Bucquhanane,  remains  to  this  day  in  the  year  of 
God  1566  years,  to  the  glory  of  God,  to  the  great 

^  This  fact  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  on  with  reference  to  the 
Latin  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Even  Mr.  Joseph  Eobertson  {In- 
ventories of  Queen  Mary,  xxxvi)  takes  Buchanan's  lines  on  Darnley  quite 
seriously. 

^  ...  quoniam  te  sospite  nobis 

Succedent  regno  prospera  cuncta  tuo. 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  195 


honour  of  the  nation,  and  to  the  comfort  of  them 
that  delyt  in  letters  and  virtue."  ^  As  Knox  could 
not  have  been  ignorant  of  Buchanan's  close  con- 
nection with  the  Court  since  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, the  sentence  just  quoted  clearly  proves  that 
Buchanan's  position  in  the  country  was  peculiar  to 
himself — that  a  liberty  of  thought  and  action  was 
allowed  him  which  the  extreme  representatives  of 
either  party  in  the  State  would  have  allowed  to  no 
other.  The  most  detestable  of  all  things  in  the 
eyes  of  Knox  was  a  lukewarm  professor.  We  may 
be  sure,  therefore,  that  had  there  been  the  faintest 
suggestion  of  trimming  on  the  part  of  Buchanan  the 
above  sentence  would  never  have  been  written. 

The  last  occasion  on  which  we  find  Buchanan  in 
friendly  relations  with  Mary  was  on  the  baptism  of 
James  vi.  in  December  1566.  As  poet-laureate  of 
the  Court,  he  wrote  the  masque  played  at  the 
supper  that  followed  the  celebration  of  the  cere- 
mony. This  is  a  singularly  jejune  performance, 
consisting  only  of  some  sixty  lines,  made  up  of  the 
speeches  of  bands  of  satyrs,  nereids,  naiads,  fauns,  and 
oreads.  In  succession  they  approach  the  young  king 
and  his  mother,  and  offer  their  homage  in  the  strain 
of  high-flown  flattery  then  used  towards  princes. 
As  the  piece,  however,  would  afford  ample  scope 
for  all  manner  of  fantastic  dresses,  it  doubtless  very 
well  served  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  produced.^ 

^  Knox,  History  of  the  Reformation. 

^  Mr,  Joseph  Robertson  {Inventories  of  Queen  Mary,  Ixxxvi)  gives 
the  following  account  of  the  performance  of  this  masque  of  Buchanan  : 
"  The  masque  for  the  grand  banquet  at  the  Prince's  baptism  at  Stirling 
in  December  1566,  was  arranged,  it  would  seem,  by  Buchanan,  who 
supplied  the  Latin  verses,  and  by  Bastien  Pagez,  a  French  valet  of  the 
Queen's  chamber,  who  devised  the  machinery.  When  the  dishes  were 
to  be  brought  in,  they  were  placed  upon  a  table  so  constructed,  that  it 


196  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


It  may  be  deemed  significant  that  the  father  of 
the  young  prince  is  not  once  mentioned  by  any  of 
the  speakers.  The  omission  may,  of  course,  mean 
nothing  more  than  that  Darnley  did  not  take  rank 
with  the  mother  and  son ;  yet  though  Buchanan, 
as  principal  of  St.  Leonard's,  was  not  a  resident  at 
Court,  he  must  have  heard  of  the  strained  relations 
between  Mary  and  her  husband.  Buchanan  after- 
wards learned  and  related  in  his  History  that 
Darnley  was  actually  in  Stirling  Castle  at  the  time, 
and  yet  was  not  present  at  the  ceremony  of  his 
son's  baptism. 

But  the  most  noteworthy  of  all  Buchanan's  pro- 
ductions addressed  to  Mary  before  the  tragedy  of 
the  Kirk  of  Field  is  the  poem  he  wrote  on  the  birth 
of  James  vi.  in  1566.  Nominally  addressed  to  the 
infant  prince,  it  is  clearly  for  Mary's  eyes  it  is 
meant ;  and  if  we  are  to  judge  fairly  of  Buchanan's 
subsequent  feelings  towards  her,  this  poem  must 

seemed  to  move  through  the  great  hall  of  its  own  accord,  accompanied 
by  musicians  in  female  attire,  singing  songs,  and  playing  upon  instru- 
ments. A  procession  of  Rural  Gods  marched  before,  each  groupe  as  it 
passed  the  dais  reciting  a  few  lines  of  Latin.  The  Satyrs,  the  Naiads, 
and  the  Oreads,  addressed  the  Prince  ;  the  Nereids  and  the  Fauns 
turned  their  speech  to  the  Queen  : 

'  Virtute,  ingenio,  Regina,  et  munere  formae 

Felicihus  felicior  majoribus, 
Conjugii  fructu  sed  felicissima,  cujus, 

Legati  honorant  exteri  cunabula  : 
Rustica  quern  donis  reverentur  Numina,  silvis 

Satyri  relictis,  Najadesque  fontibus.' 

The  Satyrs,  as  we  learn  from  an  eye-witness,  not  content  with  playing 
the  part  assigned  to  theni,  chose  to  wag  their  long  tails,  in  the  hope,  no 
doubt,  of  creating  a  laugh  among  their  companions  in  the  hall.  But  the 
retainers  of  the  English  ambassador  fancying  that  it  was  done  in  their 
derision  (there  must  have  been  Kentishmen  among  them),  were  so 
incensed  that  the  Queen  and  the  ambassador  had  difficulty  in  appeasing 
their  wrath.  The  masque,  thus  interrupted,  was  followed  by  a  dis- 
charge of  fireworks  from  a  mimic  fortress,  the  possession  of  which  was 
contested  by  motley  bands  of  Moors,  Highlanders,  Centaurs,  Lanz- 
knechts,  and  Fiends." 


SCOTLAND  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  197 


be  read  in  connection  with  the  terrible  Detectio. 
From  this  poem  it  distinctly  appears  that  Buchanan 
made  no  secret  from  Mary  of  his  opinions  as  to 
the  true  relations  in  which  the  prince  stands  to 
his  people.  It  is  as  distinctly  implied  here  as 
in  the  Baptistes  and  the  De  Jure  Regni  that  kings 
exist  by  the  will  and  for  the  good  of  the  people  ; 
and  in  the  concluding  lines  he  hints  neither  more 
nor  less  directly  than  in  the  De  Jure  Regni  that  the 
death  of  tyrants  is  well-pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God 
— an  opinion,  indeed,  which  Buchanan  shared  with 
Erasmus  and  many  of  the  most  eminent  humanists. 
In  certain  of  its  passages,  also,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  see  that  a  delicate  animadversion  is  implied  both 
on  Mary's  private  conduct  and  her  private  policy. 
In  short,  Buchanan's  subsequent  attitude  towards 
Mary  is  distinctly  implied  in  this  poem ;  and  the 
tragic  events  of  the  next  few  months  were  alone 
needed  to  convert  a  delicate  rebuke  into  the  fierce 
denunciation  of  the  Detectio. 

The  opening  lines  of  the  poem  admirably  show 
what  hopes  Buchanan,  with  all  patriotic  Scotsmen, 
based  on  the  birth  of  James.  For  all  such  it  was 
the  most  auspicious  event  that  could  have  happened 
to  Scotland,  as  they  saw  in  it  the  surest  promise 
of  that  peaceful  and  honourable  union  with  England 
which  every  year  showed  to  be  more  absolutely 
necessary.  "  Grow  and  be  strong,  long-wished-for 
boy,  happy  pledge  for  thy  country's  weal,  to  whom 
ancient  bards  have  promised  the  peaceful  glories  of 
the  golden  age.  And  thou,  happy  Britain,  joyfully 
lift  up  thy  head,  thou  so  often  stricken  by  foreign 
foes,  so  often  on  ruin's  brink  from  the  s  words  of  thy 
own  children  ;  bind  thy  hair  with  olive,  and  repair 


198 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


tliy  ruined  homes,  for  the  stars  now  promise  thee 
eternal  peace.  Now  Saxon  oppresseth  not  Scot,  nor 
Scot  Saxon,  nor  stain  their  swords  with  the  blood  of 
their  kindred,  nor  make  the  cities  of  the  other  their 
prey.  They  whose  delight  was  mutual  war  now 
join  right  hands  in  peace.  And  ye,  happy  parents 
of  this  happy  child,  train  him  from  his  tenderest 
years  to  virtue  and  justice.  Let  piety  be  his  com- 
panion from  the  cradle,  moulding  his  thoughts  and 
growing  with  his  years  !  "  As  the  ship  answers  the 
helm,  the  poet  proceeds,  so  the  people  direct  their 
steps  by  the  example  of  their  prince.  Prisons,  and 
harsh  laws,  the  threats  of  death,  fill  a  people  with 
terror ;  but  true  virtue  in  their  king  and  reverence 
for  authority  are  of  more  avail  to  win  them  to  good. 
What  the  sword  cannot  compel,  love  will  gladly  yield. 
The  people  vie  with  their  prince  in  mutual  service, 
love  when  they  see  they  are  loved,  and  obey  as  their 
lord  him  whom  they  may  freely  obey.  If  the  prince 
but  relax  the  reins,  of  their  own  accord  the  people 
draw  them  tight,  and  the  yoke  they  reject  when 
thrust  on  them,  if  left  to  themselves  they  demand. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  true  king  and  father  of  his 
people  imposes  no  laws  which  he  himself  is  not 
willing  to  obey.  In  food,  and  dress,  and  lodging  he 
sets  the  example  of  moderation.  In  love,  also,  he 
is  chastity  itself  Who  would  wear  silk,  if  the 
prince  were  content  with  wool  ?  Who  would  find 
fault  with  the  marriage-law  if  the  ruler  were  the 
first  to  submit  to  it  ?  Who  would  be  intemperate, 
if  the  king  were  not  ?  But  the  concluding  hnes 
of  the  poem  must  be  given  in  Buchanan's  own 
words,  as  they  may  be  regarded  as  a  brief  summary 
of  the  teaching  of  the  De  Jure  Regni  : — 


SCOTLAND — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  COURT.  199 


Scilicet  humano  generi  natura  benigni 

Nil  dedit,  aut  tribuet  moderato  Principe  majus, 

In  quo  vera  Dei  vivensque  elucet  imago. 

Hanc  seu  Rex  vitiis  contaminet  ipse  pudendis, 

Sive  alius  ferro  violet  vel  fraude,  severas 

Sacrilego  Deus  ipse  petet  de  sanguine  poenas, 

Contemtumque  sui  simulacri  baud  linquet  inultum. 

Sic  Nero  crudelis,  sic  Flavius  ultimus,  et  qui 

Imperio  Siculas  urbes  tenuere  cruento, 

Effigiem  foedare  Dei  exitialibus  ausi 

Flagitiis,  ipsa  periere  a  stirpe  recisi. 

Sic  qui  se  justi  macularunt  sanguine  Servi, 

Et  qui  legitimos  ferro  flammaque  petivit 

Rectores  patriae  Catilina  nefarius,  acti 

In  furias  misero  vix  tandem  funere  vitam 

Invisam  posuere,  ignominiaque  perenni 

Foedavere  suam  ventura  in  secula  gentem. 

"  In  good  sooth,  nature  hath  never  given  and 
never  will  give  a  greater  boon  to  man  than  a  prince 
who  is  moderate  in  all  things,  in  whom  shines  the 
true  and  living  image  of  God.  Whether  the  King 
himself  defile  this  image  by  his  own  vice,  or  another 
violate  it  by  force  or  fraud,  God  Himself  will  exact 
stern  punishment  for  the  sacrilege,  nor  will  leave 
unavenged  the  slighted  exemplar  of  himself  So 
was  it  that  Nero,  and  Domitian,  and  the  Dionysii, 
who  dared  by  their  misdeeds  to  pollute  God's  own 
likeness,  were  cut  off  root  and  branch.  So  the 
slayers  of  Servius  Tullius,  and  the  impious  Catiline, 
who  pursued  the  lawful  rulers  of  his  country  with 
fire  and  sword,  goaded  to  madness,  died  a  wretched 
death,  and  to  all  time  brought  dishonour  on  their 
race." 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

THE  DETECT  10^  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS. 

We  have  seen  that  in  December  1566  Buchanan 
wrote  the  Court  masque  for  the  festivities  that 
followed  the  baptism  of  James  vi.  This,  as  has 
been  said,  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  we  find 
Buchanan  on  friendly  terms  with  Mary.  However 
we  may  regard  the  events  of  the  next  few  months, 
they  at  least  made  impossible  any  compromise 
between  the  two  parties  in  the  State ;  and  they 
brought  to  direct  issue  which  of  the  two.  Catholic 
or  Protestant,  was  to  fashion  the  destinies  of  Scot- 
land. These  events  may  be  told  in  one  sentence. 
On  the  9th  of  February  1567  Darnley  was  murdered 
in  the  Kirk  of  Field  ;  on  the  15th  of  May  Mary 
married  Both  well ;  in  June  she  was  imprisoned  in  ' 
Lochleven ;  and  in  May  of  the  next  year  she  was  a 
fugitive  in  England.  By  the  part  which  Buchanan 
took  in  this  revolution  he  has  been  made  the 
object  of  the  most  vehement  denunciation  by  all 
the  champions  of  Mary  from  his  own  day  to  the 
present.  As  it  was  through  him  more  than  any 
other  that  the  charges  against  Mary  were  made 
known  to  Europe,  it  has  been  the  invariable  custom 
of  all  who  have  believed  in  her  innocence  to  make 
abuse  of  Buchanan  an  essential  part  of  their  case. 

1  DetecHo  Mariae  Eeginae  Scotorum. 

200 


THE  D^TUOTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  201 

They  represent  him  as  a  time-server,  who,  so  long 
as  Mary  had  it  in  her  power  to  do  him  any  favour, 
wrote  beautiful  poems  in  her  honour,  and  danced 
attendance  on  her  Court.  When  the  hour  of  her 
misfortune  came  he  deserted  her  for  the  side  of 
her  enemies,  and  wrote  a  malignant  libel  which 
did  more  to  ruin  her  reputation  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe  than  all  the  efforts  of  her  other  enemies 
together.  For  writers  of  this  class  Buchanan  is, 
in  truth,  only  worthy  of  notice  as  the  author  of 
the  Detectio,  and  the  sycophant  and  afterwards 
the  re  viler  of  Mary.  It  is  curious  that  in  his 
Life  written  or  inspired  by  himself  he  has  not  con- 
sidered it  worth  while  to  mention  that  he  wrote 
the  Detectio,  or  that  he  accompanied  the  Commis- 
sioners who  put  the  case  against  Mary  before 
Elizabeth.  His  silence  is  certainly  not  due  to 
any  regret  or  shame  for  the  part  he  played ;  for 
in  his  History  he  has  stated  with  added  emphasis 
every  charge  brought  against  her  in  the  Detectio, 
and  thus  confidently  left  it  to  posterity  to  judge 
of  his  good  faith  and  the  truth  of  his  indict- 
ment. As  his  good  name,  however,  has  seriously 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  successive  generations  of 
special  pleaders,  whose  sole  concern  has  been  to 
vindicate  Mary  at  all  costs,  it  is  necessary  to  speak 
at  greater  length  of  this  episode  than  it  really 
deserves.  And  it  may  be  said  in  passing  that 
the  writers  who  have  thus  denounced  Buchanan 
have  shown  an  ignorance  of  the  facts  of  his  life,  of 
the  scope  and  significance  of  his  work,  of  his  rela- 
tions with  certain  of  the  finest  spirits  of  the  time,^ 

^  These  relations  will  be  further  illustrated  in  the  chapter  on 
Buchanan's  Correspondence. 


202  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


only  to  be  justified  by  their  praiseworthy  desire  to 
say  all  that  can  be  said  for  the  most  interesting  and 
most  unhappy  of  women/ 

The  true  relations  of  Buchanan  to  Mary  have 
already  been  stated ;  but  the  charges  brought 
against  him  of  being  first  her  pensioner  and 
flatterer,  and  afterwards  her  libeller,  have  been 
so  pertinaciously  repeated  that  it  is  as  well  they 
should  again  be  put  before  the  reader.^  The  only 
so-called  pension  which  Buchanan  received  from 
Mary  was  that  from  the  Abbey  of  Crossraguel,  and 
it  has  been  seen  that  it  brought  to  him  as  much 
worry  and  vexation  as  profit.^  If  Mary  had  seriously 
exerted  herself,  it  is  possible  that  the  pension  might 
have  proved  a  more  substantial  boon.  Moreover,  it 
can  hardly  be  denied  that  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
scholars  in  Europe,  and  beyond  a  doubt  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  age,  in  acting  as  classical  tutor  to 
Mary,  and  doing  other  services  for  which  he  was 
better  fitted  than  any  one  else  in  her  kingdom,  had 
a  distinct  claim  on  her  liberality  which  makes  it 
preposterous  to  speak  of  him  as  her  mere  pensioner. 
The  truth  is,  also,  that  whatever  may  have  been 
Mary's  generosity,  Buchanan  was  in  actual  straits 
while  she  was  in  power. 

Buchanan  has  been  styled  a  flatterer  and  a 
time-server  because  in  certain  poems  he  has  spoken 
of  Mary  in  terms  which  flagrantly  contradict  what 

1  Thus  Mr.  Hosack  actually  confounds  the  Detectio  with  the  Actio. 
Moreover,  if  one  thing  be  more  certain  than  another,  it  is  that  the  Actio 
was  not  written  by  Buchanan. — Hosack,  Mary  Stewart  (1888),  p.  15.  Cf. 
p.  213  (below). 

"  An  accomplished  Latin  scholar,  Buchanan  was  without  doubt  the 
most  venal  and  unscrupulous  of  men." — Hosack,  p.  17.  Other  writers 
of  the  type  of  Mr.  Hosack  speak  in  the  same  strain. 

3  As  Dr.  Dickson  has  pointed  out  to  me,  the  pension  of  250  pounds 
would  cease  when  that  from  Crossraguel  Abbey  was  conferred.  Cf. 
p.  186  (above). 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  203 

he  afterwards  said  of  her  in  her  misfortune.  It 
has  ah'eady  been  more  than  once  remarked  that  it 
would  be  absurd  to  take  as  genuine  expressions  of 
opinion  the  panegyrics  of  the  Latin  poets  of  the 
Renaissance.  We  have  seen  how  the  University  of 
Paris  regarded  its  self-imposed  function  of  address- 
ing princes  in  terms  of  ill- deserved  eulogy.  Lord 
Bacon,  himself  an  adept  in  the  art,  has  told  us 
what  such  panegyric  meant  in  his  day.  Some 
praises,"  he  says,  "come  of  good  wishes,  and  re- 
spects, which  is  a  form  due  in  civility  to  kings  and 
great  persons.  Laudando  prcecipere ;  when  by  tell- 
ing men  what  they  are,  they  represent  to  them  what 
they  should  be."^  It  is  assuredly  in  the  light  of 
these  remarks  of  Bacon  that  we  must  understand 
Buchanan  when  he  praises  Mary,  and  de  THopital 
when  he  praises  Catharine  de  Medici  and  the 
Cardinal  Lorraine. 

But  by  his  entire  line  of  action  previous  to  the 
dethronement  of  Mary,  Buchanan  left  her  in  no 
manner  of  doubt  as  to  the  side  he  took  in  her 
contests  with  the  reforming  party.  He  took  his 
place  year  after  year  in  the  General  Assembly,  and 
thus  identified  himself  with  a  body  which  sought  to 
traverse  her  policy  at  every  step.  He  published 
his  Franciscanus,  one  of  the  bitterest  satires  of  the 
age  on  the  religion  which  she  professed,  and  dedi- 
cated it  with  a  laudatory  preface  to  her  brother  the 
Earl  of  Moray,  whom  at  no  time  she  regarded 
with  much  affection.  And,  finally,  he  won  the  un- 
qualified approval  of  the  most  determined  of  all  her 
opponents,  Knox,  the  very  last  man  in  the  world 
who  would  approve  any  time-serving  compromise 

1  Essays  :  Of  Praise. 


204 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


with  Papistry.  It  is  difficult,  therefore,  to  see  what 
more  Buchanan  could  have  done  to  show  that  what- 
ever his  relations  to  Mary,  he  retained  all  through 
perfect  mental  independence  and  freedom  of  action. 
It  is  indeed  only  utter  ignorance  of  the  facts  of  his 
life,  and  the  necessities  of  a  precarious  argument, 
that  could  present  Buchanan  as  the  venal  and 
supple- kneed  courtier.  Whatever  may  have  been 
his  faults  or  weaknesses,  greed  of  money  or  place, 
or  cringing  subservience  to  authority,  were  certainly 
not  amongst  them.  Again  and  again  throughout 
his  life,  in  Scotland,  in  France,  and  in  Portugal,  he 
injured  his  prospects  and  risked  his  safety  by  the 
uncompromising  frankness  of  his  speech.  As  far  as 
his  attitude  towards  the  policy  and  religion  of  Mary 
was  concerned,  it  was  that  of  antagonism  from 
the  date  of  his  return  to  Scotland  till  the  date  of 
his  death.  That  he  was  on  good  terms  with  Mary 
till  the  murder  of  Darnley  is  to  the  credit  of  both, 
since  both  understood  that  on  the  most  important 
questions  that  touch  man's  welfare  each  deliberately 
sought  to  undo  the  work  of  the  other. 

From  the  murder  of  Darnley  Buchanan's  friendly 
feeling  for  Mary  was  changed  to  indignation  and 
contempt,  and  thenceforward  he  took  his  place 
among  the  most  formidable  of  her  enemies.  It  is 
his  share  in  the  proceedings  taken  against  her  by 
the  insurgent  party  under  Moray  that  has  brought 
down  on  him  the  obloquy  of  her  champions  from 
that  day  to  this.  Yet  when  all  he  said  and  did  is 
temperately  considered,  nothing  can  be  clearer  than 
that,  holding  the  political  and  religious  views  he  did, 
he  could  hardly  have  acted  otherwise  as  a  patriot 
and  man  of  honour.    In  justifying  the  conduct  of 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  205 


Buchanan  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  defame  Mary. 
Whether  she  was  guilty  or  not,  Buchanan's  good 
faith  in  either  case  must  be  perfectly  manifest  to 
every  one  but  a  partisan. 

After  Mary's  marriage  with  Bothwell,  it  is  un- 
questionable that  the  general  conviction,  not  only 
in  Scotland,  but  in  England  and  Europe,  was  that 
she  had  her  own  share  in  the  murder  of  her  late 
husband.  Her  own  ambassador  in  France  gave  her 
plainly  enough  to  understand  what  men  thought  of 
her  in  that  country ;  but  a  more  interesting  testi- 
mony than  that  of  her  ambassador  Beaton  is  found 
in  a  Latin  poem  by  one  who  stands  as  the  highest 
type  of  civic  virtue  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
great  Chancellor  de  I'Hopital.  L'Hopital,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  one  of  the  multitude  of  poets 
who,  along  with  Buchanan,  celebrated  the  youthful 
charm  of  Mary  on  her  marriage  with  the  Dauphin 
Francis.  "The  murder  of  Darnley,"  says  Ste.  Beuve,^ 

1  Ste.  Beuve,  Causeries,  11  aout  1851.  This  poem  of  De  I'Hopital 
was  not  to  be  found  in  any  edition  of  his  works  at  my  disposal.  I  am 
indebted  for  a  copy  of  it  to  M.  Manget  of  the  Lycee,  Versailles,  who 
found  it  in  an  edition  of  I'Hopital  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1732, 
The  poem  is  entitled  Bi  Mortem  Regis  Scotiae.  I  give  the  lines  that 
specially  refer  to  Mary.  The  poet  has  been  speaking  of  the  various 
inhuman  crimes  committed  during  his  century,  and  he  proceeds  : — 

"  En  aliud  !  Juveni  modo  quae  regina  marito 
Nupserat,  et  sobolem  formosam  mater  alebat, 
Dlum  ipsum  vesana  novis  oppressit  inermem 
Artibus.    At  medium  jam  nox  confecerat  orbem, 
Versa  repente  domus,  subjecto  fulgure  et  igni 
Quo  misere  casu  ambusti  regalibus  onmes 
Qui  tectis  suberant,  attritaque  membra  jacentum, 
Exanimum  Regis,  nudum  et  sine  vulnere  corpus 
Ad  primum  lapidem  (flammae  vis  tanta)  repertum  est. 
0  diros  hominum  mores  !  0  tempora  !  Quid  non 
Laesus  amor  spretis  naturae  legibus  audet  ? 
Talia  cum  reges  prospectant,  posse  tueri 
Praesidiis  hominum  sperent  se  tempore  nullo. 
Non  vis,  non  humana  potest  prudentia  casus 
Diffugere  innumeros  quibus  est  obnoxia  vita. 
Ergo  communes  cum  sint  hoc  tempore  casus, 


206 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


"  echoed  beyond  the  seas ;  I'Hopital,  that  repre- 
sentative of  the  human  conscience  during  a  fright- 
ful age,  heard  in  his  country-house  of  the  crime 
{^garemeiit)  of  her  whose  first  marriage  and  early 
grace  he  had  celebrated ;  he  gave  solemn  expression 
to  his  indignation  in  a  new  piece  of  Latin  verse,  in 
which  he  recounts  the  horrors  of  that  fatal  night, 
and  does  not  shrink  from  naming  the  wife  and 
young  mother  as  the  murderer  of  the  father  of  the 
child  still  at  her  breast."  When  such  was  the 
general  impression  in  Catholic  France,  we  may  judge 
how  Mary  must  have  been  regarded  in  Scotland, 
and,  above  all,  among  those  of  her  subjects  who  had 
all  along  held  that,  alike  by  her  religion  and  entire 
manner  of  life,  she  was  fast  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity. 
Among  men  of  this  type  there  can  be  no  doubt 
whatever  that  there  was  absolute  certainty  that 
Mary  was  guilty  of  her  husband's  murder.  But 
these  were  the  men  with  whom  Buchanan  was  in 
daily  contact.  Everything  considered,  therefore,  it 
would  be  manifestly  unjust  to  question  Buchanan's 
good  faith  if  he  shared  the  conviction  of  those 
whom,  with  all  their  excesses,  we  are  bound  to  con- 
sider the  saving  element  in  the  country. 

But  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Buchanan 
was  convinced  of  Mary's  guilt  before  a  discovery 
was  made  which  of  necessity  must  have  put  all  his 
doubts  to  rest.  On  the  20th  of  June,  four  months 
after  Darnley's  murder,  the  famous  Casket  Letters 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Morton.  The 
recent  discovery  of  the  deposition  made  by  Morton 

Quuraque  premat  recres  eadem  fortuna  superbos, 
Stulta  sui  fuerit  vel  inanis  cura  tuendi, 
Adversante  Deo,  rumpit  qui  stamina  vitae 
Arbitrioque  suo  longos  producit  in  annos." 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  207 


before  the  English  Commissioners  appointed  by 
Elizabeth  to  sit  on  Mary's  case  has  shed  the  fullest 
light  on  the  history  of  these  letters.^  On  the  day 
following  the  seizure  of  the  casket,  the  letters  and 
poems  it  contained  were  carefully  scrutinised  in  the 
presence  of  the  Earls  of  Morton,  Mar,  Glencairn, 
Lords  Home,  Semple,  Sanquhar,  the  Master  of 
Grahame,  Maitland  of  Lethington,  and  the  Laird  of 
Tullibardine.  Among  these  witnesses  several  were 
Catholics,  and  others  were  known  to  be  the  staunch 
friends  of  Mary;  and  it  is  they  to  whom  Morton 
refers  in  his  deposition  as  evidence  for  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  letters.  Of  this  discovery,  and  the  con- 
clusive attestation  to  its  genuineness,  Buchanan, 
from  his  close  connection  with  the  leading  men  in 
the  country,  must  have  heard  almost  immediately. 
Under  these  circumstances,  can  we  wonder  that 
Buchanan  should  have  been  convinced  of  the 
Queen's  guilt,  proved  as  it  was  by  the  testimony  of 
her  best  friends  ? 

The  month  following  the  seizure  of  the  casket 
letters,  the  General  Assembly  met  in  Edinburgh, 
and  Buchanan  for  the  first  time  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  Moderator.  The  doings  of  the  Queen 
formed  the  great  theme  of  discussion,  and  so  stern 
was  the  feeling  against  her,  that  but  for  the  inter- 
ference of  Throgmorton,  the  English  ambassador,  it 
seemed  likely  that  the  Assembly  would  recommend 
sentence  of  death  as  the  only  sufficient  punishment  of 

^  For  the  details  of  this  discovery  see  Henderson's  The  Casket  Letters 
and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  (Adam  and  Charles  Black,  1890).  Morton's 
deposition  disposes  of  the  strongest  argument  against  the  genuineness  of 
the  letters,  viz.,  that  Morton  may  have  forged  or  tampered  with  them 
between  the  date  of  the  casket's  falling  into  his  hands  and  his  delivery 
of  it  to  Moray — an  interval  of  fifteen  months.  As  the  controversy  now 
stands,  the  probabilities  are  greatly  in  favour  of  the  genuineness  of  the 
letters  ;  and  Maitland  comes  worst  out  of  the  whole  case. 


208 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


her  crimes.^  After  violent  debate,  it  was  at  length 
resolved  that  she  should  be  called  upon  to  demit  the 
crown  in  favour  of  her  son.  As  the  leaders  of  the 
Church  acted  at  this  time  in  the  closest  union 
with  the  Protestant  lords,  in  all  likelihood  these 
proceedings  of  the  Assembly  are  in  part  to  be 
explained  by  their  privacy  to  the  secret  of  the 
casket  letters. 

In  October  1568  Moray  proceeded  to  York  to 
lay  before  the  Commissioners  of  Elizabeth  the 
indictment  against  Mary.  He  took  with  him  the 
Earl  of  Morton,  the  Bishop  of  Orkney,  Lord  Lind- 
say, and  the  Commendator  of  Dunfermline,  as  the 
Commissioners  for  Scotland  ;  and  added,  as  assistants 
to  these,  Maitland,  James  Makgill,  and  Buchanan. 
It  must  certainly  be  regarded  as  a  tribute  to  the 
character  and  high  reputation  of  Buchanan  that  he, 
a  simple  scholar,  was  chosen  to  make  one  of  a  body 
charged  with  such  weighty  responsibilities. 

Of  the  tedious  and  tortuous  proceedings  of  the 
Commissioners,  first  at  York  and  afterwards  at 
Westminster,  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  give  any 
detailed  account.  The  only  question  with  which 
we  are  concerned  is,  whether  Buchanan,  as  a  man 
of  honour,  was  in  his  place  as  an  aider  in  these  pro- 
ceedings against  his  Queen.  The  charges  which 
Moray  and  his  colleagues  brought  against  Mary 
were  contained  in  the  casket  letters,  and  in  a 
document  known  as  the  Book  of  Articles,  in  which 
the  case  acrainst  her  was  set  down  in  a  formal 
indictment.  Until  the  recent  discovery  of  the 
original  Book  of  Articles,  it  was  generally  supposed 
that  this  document  was  the  famous  Detectio,  written 

^  Tytler,  History  of  Scotland^  vol.  iii.  chap.  viii. 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  209 


by  Buchanan  himself.^  As  the  veritable  Book  of 
Articles  was  written  in  Scots,  and  in  legal  form,  it 
is  unlikely  that  Buchanan  had  any  hand  in  drawing 
it  up.  But  whoever  drew  it  up,  the  men  respon- 
sible for  its  contents  were  Moray,  Morton,  and 
Lethington.^  It  is  on  their  evidence  that  the 
indictment  is  based,  and  on  their  oath  that  it  is 
authenticated.  Of  the  charges  enumerated  in  the 
Book  of  Articles,  Buchanan  could  have  known 
nothing  from  personal  experience.  His  position, 
therefore,  was  this.  Like  all  men  of  his  way  of 
thinking  in  politics  and  religion,  he  was  disposed  by 
the  general  course  of  events  to  believe  that  Mary 
was  guilty ;  but  when  this  presumption  was  sup- 
ported by  direct  evidence  sworn  to  by  her  friends 
and  foes  alike,  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  him  to 
resist  the  conviction  of  the  Queen's  guilt.  This 
being  the  case,  it  is  clear  that,  as  a  Protestant  and 
a  lover  of  his  country,  he  was  bound  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  her  return  to  the  throne.  He 
must  have  thought,  and  was  certainly  justified  in 
thinking,  that  to  restore  to  her  throne  a  woman 
capable  of  the  crimes  laid  to  her  charge,  would  be 
an  outrage  on  society  which  no  possible  considera- 
tion of  loyalty  could  justify.  Personal  feeling,  also, 
must  have  intensified  his  indignation  against  her  as 
a  public  enemy.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
Buchanan  had  much  affection  for  Darnley,  yet  as  the 

1  This  document  was  found  among  the  Hopetoun  Manuscripts,  and 
published  by  Hosack  in  his  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  her  Accusers.  There 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  is  the  original  Book  of  Articles  laid 
before  the  English  Commissioners.  It  may  be  said  that  Camden  clearly 
distinguishes  between  Buchanan's  Detectio  and  the  Book  of  Articles. — 
History  of  Elizabeth  (London,  1675),  pp.  116,  117. 

2  Anderson's  Collections  :  "  The  Copie  of  a  Letter  written  by  one  in 
London  to  his  Friend,  concerning  the  Credit  of  the  late  published  Detec- 
tion of  the  Doynges  of  the  Ladie  Mary  of  Scotland,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  261-267. 

O 


210  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

head  of  his  own  clan,  the  fact  that  he  had  been  the 
victim  could  not  but  have  its  own  share  in  whetting 
the  rhetoric  of  the  Detectio.  Moreover,  the  very 
youth  and  beauty  of  Mary  (she  was  only  twenty-five 
at  the  murder  of  her  husband),  to  which  Buchanan 
as  a  poet  must  have  been  more  susceptible  than 
most  men,  must,  in  the  light  in  which  he  now 
regarded  her,  have  added  a  certain  loathing  to  his 
wrath,  which  need  hardly  excite  our  wonder.  Such, 
then,  is  the  simple  account  of  Buchanan's  attitude 
towards  Mary  after  the  murder  of  Darnley.  It  will 
be  seen  that  he  is  equally  justified  whether  she  be 
regarded  as  innocent  or  guilty.  If  she  were  innocent, 
the  odium  must  lie  at  the  door  of  the  "  practical 
politicians" — a  race  of  men,  it  must  be  admitted, 
who,  in  all  ages,  have  had  a  conscience  and  a  moral 
law  peculiar  to  themselves. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Book  of  Articles  was 
distinct  from  the  Detectio,  and  that  it,  and  not  the 
Detectio,  contained  the  original  list  of  charges 
brought  against  Mary  and  laid  before  the  English 
Commissioners.  Whether  the  Detectio,  in  the  form 
in  which  we  have  it,  was  also  laid  before  them,  it 
is  difficult  to  determine.  If  we  may  believe  an 
anonymous  writer,  who  seems  to  speak  from  special 
information,  in  all  probability  it  was.^  "  The  book 
itself"  (meaning  the  Detectio),  says  the  writer,  "  was 
written  by  hym,  not  as  of  hymself  nor  in  his  own 
name,  but  according  to  the  instructions  to  him  given 
by  common  conference  of  the  Lordes  of  the  Privie 
Counsel  of  Scotland,  by  hym  onely  for  hys  learning 
penned,  but  by  them  the  Mater  ministred,  the  book 
ouerseen  and  allowed,  and  exhibited  by  them  as  Mater 

1  Anderson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  261. 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  211 

that  they  have  oflfered  and  do  contmue  in  offering 
to  stand  to  and  justifie  before  our  Soveraigne  Lady, 
or  her  Highnesses  Commissioners  in  that  behalf 
apointed/'  The  same  writer  says  that  a  copy  of 
the  Detectio  was  found  in  "  one  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk's  men's  houses  "  after  that  nobleman's  arrest. 
As  Norfolk  was  arrested  in  October  1569,  the 
Detectio  must  at  least  have  been  in  circulation  long- 
before  its  publication.  The  form  in  which  it  is  cast 
would  also  lead  us  to  believe  that  it  was  expressly 
written  to  be  submitted  to  the  Commissioners,  as 
in  the  opening  sentence  the  writer  formally 
addresses  Elizabeth  as  if  in  her  presence.^ 

The  matter  of  the  Detectio,  we  have  seen,  is 
almost  exclusively  drawn  from  the  Book  of  Articles; 
but  in  Buchanan's  production,  it  is  presented  with 
a  literary  force  and  skill,  and  penetrated  with  a 
passion,  that  transform  it  into  a  deadly  indictment. 
To  the  reader  of  the  present  day  its  tone  must 
hardly  appear  such  as  becomes  an  arraignment  of  a 
sovereign,  however  great  her  crimes.  But  it  would 
be  utterly  uncritical  to  judge  this  performance  by 
present  canons  of  taste  and  good  feeling.  The 
Detectio,  like  all  Buchanan  s  literary  work,  must  be 
judged  by  the  standard  it  is  necessary  to  apply  to 
all  the  productions  of  humanism.  We  have  seen 
how,  in  the  case  of  his  poetry — of  his  erotic  verses, 
his  translation  of  the  Psalms,  his  didactic  poem  of 
the  Sphere — his  choice  of  subject  and  manner  of 
treatment  were  determined  by  the  conditions  of  his 
age.  The  Detectio,  also,  to  be  properly  understood, 
and  to  receive  its  due  place  in  our  final  estimate  of 
Buchanan,  must  be  read  in  the  light  of  the  amazing 

^  Yet  in  the  Detectio  Moray  is  spoken  of  as  dead. 


212  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


controversial  literature  of  the  humanists.  A  writer, 
who  speaks  with  the  highest  authority  on  the 
learned  literature  of  the  sixteenth  century,  thus 
marks  the  traditions  of  humanism  in  its  mode  of 
conducting  controversy :  It  is  impossible  to  defend, 
and  difficult  to  excuse,  the  scurrility  with  which 
Dolet  speaks  of  the  greatest  scholar  and  the  fore- 
most man  of  letters  of  his  age  (Erasmus).  All  that 
can  be  said  in  extenuation  is,  that  scurrility  of  this 
kind  was  a  common  practice  of  the  literary  men  of 
the  day  in  writing  of  their  opponents,  that  we  find  it 
in  men  distinguished  for  their  ability,  learning,  and 
virtue,  and  that,  violent  as  the  language  of  Dolet  ap- 
pears, it  is  far  less  violent,  far  less  scurrilous,  and  far 
less  unseemly,  than  that  which  J ulius  Csesar  Scaliger 
used  of  the  same  great  man,  or  that  which  Luther 
applied  to  Henry  viii.  and  his  other  opponents, 
whilst  it  is  absolutely  moderate  in  comparison  with 
the  language  of  Filelfo,  of  Poggio,  and  of  Valla."  ^ 
It  is  in  view  of  these  controversial  methods  of  the 
humanists  that  we  have  also  to  judge  one  greater 
than  Buchanan.  Milton  himself,  in  his  controversial 
writings,  has  exhibited  these  ill-manners  of  the 
humanists  in  far  greater  degree,  and  certainly  with 
far  less  provocation,  than  Buchanan  in  any  invectives 
he  has  left  us.^ 

It  is  quite  in  the  spirit  of  humanism,  therefore, 
that  Buchanan  wrote  his  Detectio.  The  matter  was 
not  his  own ;  but,  called  on  by  Moray  and  his 
associates  to  present  it  in  literary  form,  he  did  so 
in  the  most  approved  fashion  of  his  contemporaries. 

1  Christie,  Life  of  Etienne  Dolet,  p.  201. 

^  Those  who  would  judge  Milton  and  Buchanan  aright  in  this  matter 
should  read  the  controversial  pamphlets  of  Melanchthon  and  Sir  Thomas 
More,  two  of  the  most  finely-touched  spirits  the  world  has  known. 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  213 


The  subject  was  one,  indeed,  after  the  humanist's 
own  heart,  commanding,  as  it  did,  the  interest  of 
Europe,  and  offering  the  most  splendid  scope  for 
all  the  turns  of  Ciceronian  rhetoric.  Buchanan 
wrote  it,  therefore,  in  the  full  consciousness  that  his 
reputation  as  a  scholar  was  in  question.  How 
he  succeeded,  the  obloquy  of  three  centuries  on 
the  part  of  Mary's  advocates  is  the  most  signifi- 
cant commentary.  It  was  published  in  London 
in  1571,  accompanied  by  Latin  translations  of 
three  of  the  casket  letters,  and  a  pamphlet 
entitled  Actio  contra  Mariam  Scotorum  Reginam} 
By  some  writers  this  pamphlet  has  also  been  attri- 
buted to  Buchanan.  But  no  one  acquainted  with 
his  writings  could  for  a  moment  imagine  it  to  be 
his.  It  goes  over  exactly  the  same  ground  as  the 
Detectio,  in  the  most  rambling  fashion,  and  in  a 
spirit  compared  with  which  Buchanan's  philippic  is 
strikingly  judicial.  Moreover,  its  feeble  rhetoric 
and  inconsequent  logic  have  not  the  remotest  sug- 
gestion of  the  masculine  grasp  and  nervous  energy 
of  Buchanan.^  Immediately  afterwards  appeared  a 
translation  of  the  Detectio  into  Scots,  executed  by 
an  Englishman  with  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
dialect;  and  in  1572  a  Scots  version  was  published 
at  St.  Andrews.  This  last  translation  has  been 
ascribed,  perhaps  erroneously,  to  Buchanan  himself 
In  certain  passages  the  translator  has  missed  the 
meaning  of  the  original  Latin,  which  could  hardly 

^  Mr.  Henderson  {The  Casket  Letters^  p.  46)  has  given  an  accurate 
account  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Detectio  and  the  various  subsequent 
translations. 

2  Malcolm  Laing,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  pp.  247  et  seq.,  con- 
clusively showed  by  external  evidence  that  the  Actio  could  not  have 
been  written  by  Buchanan.  He  shows  that  in  all  probability  it  was 
written  by  Dr.  Thomas  Wilson. 


214 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


have  happened  had  Buchanan  himself  been  the 
translator/  In  February  1573  a  French  translation 
appeared,  ostensibly  published  at  Edinburgh,  but 
in  reality  at  Roche! le  by  the  Huguenots.  Ulti- 
mately, Buchanan  embodied  the  Detectio  almost 
entire  in  his  History,  and  thus  pledged  his  faith  to 
posterity  for  the  truth  of  its  statements.  That  he 
should  have  done  so,  in  the  full  knowledge  that 
these  statements  were  mere  libellous  falsehoods,  is 
so  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  whole  strain  of  his 
life  and  character,  that  to  maintain  it  can  be  only 
the  desperate  shift  of  the  blindest  partisanship.^ 

The  full  title  of  the  Detectio  will  sufficiently 
explain  its  character  and  scope.  It  is  as  follows  : 
"  De  Maria  Scotorum  Begina,  totaque  ejus  contra 
Begem  conjuratione,  foedo  cum  Bothuelio  adulterio, 
nefaria  in  maritum  crudelitate  et  rabie,  horrendo 
insuper  et  deterrimo  ejusdem  parricidio,  plena, 
et  tragica  plane  Historia."  As  Malcolm  Laing 
pointed  out,  this  most  unclassical  title  could  hardly 
have  been  the  work  of  Buchanan.  The  title  of  the 
Scots  translation  is  as  follows  :  "  Ane  Detectioun  of 
the  Duinges  of  Marie,  Queue  of  Scottes,  touchand 
the  murder  of  hir  husband,  and  hir  conspiracie, 
adulterie,  and  pretensed  mariage  with  the  Erie 
Bothwell  ;  and  ane  Defence  of  the  trew  Lordis, 
mainteineris  of  the  Kingis  gracis,  actioun  and  au- 
thoritie."  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  present  a 
summary  of  the  Detectio,  as  it  consists  simply  of  a 

^  Ruddiman  pointed  this  out,  and  was  of  opinion  that  Buchanan  was 
not  the  translator.  At  the  same  time,  the  style  of  the  translatioQ 
appears  to  be  exactly  that  of  Buchanan's  Admonition  and  Chamaeleon. 

2  On  the  supposition  that  the  casket  letters  were  forged,  a  forger 
had  to  be  found,  and  at  one  time  Buchanan,  among  others,  was  suet- 
gested.  But  apart  from  the  absurdity  of  such  a  suggestion,  as  the 
controversy  now  stands,  it  is  irrelevant. 


THE  DETECT  10  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  215 

long  series  of  accusations  whose  only  connection  is 
chronological.  We  give  the  opening  paragraph  of 
the  Scots  translation  : — 

Quhairas  of  Thingis  judiciallie  determinit  with- 
in ony  Dominioun,  to  have  Acconipt  demandit  be 
Strangeris,  is  to  sic  as  be  not  subject  to  forane 
Jurisdictioun,  baith  strange,  and  also  for  the 
Strangenes  displesant,  to  us  above  all  uther  it  aucht 
to  be  maist  grevous,  quha  are  drevin  to  yis  Streicht  of 
Necessitie,  yat,  quhais  Faultis  we  desyre  to  cover, 
thair  Lyves  we  ar  enforcit  to  accuse,  unles  we  will 
our  selfis  be  accomptit  the  maist  wickit  Persones 
that  live  :  Bot  a  greit  Part  of  this  Greif  is  relevit 
be  our  Equitie,  (maist  excellent  Quene)  quha  tak  it 
na  les  displesandly  to  se  your  Kinniswoman,  than 
we  to  se  our  Quene,  thus  in  Speiche  of  all  Men,  to 
be  dishonorabillie  reportit,  quha  alswa  ar  for  zour 
Part  na  les  desyrous  to  understand  the  Treuth,  than 
we  for  ouris  to  avoide  Sclander.  Thairfor  we  will 
knit  up  the  Mater  als  breifly  as  possibilly  may  be, 
and  declair  it  with  sic  Schortnes,  as  we  mav  rather 
seeme  to  have  lychtly  ryn  ower  the  chief  Pointis, 
than  to  have  largely  expressit  thame,  beginning  at 
the  Quenis  first  Inconstancie ;  for  as  in  making  of 
hir  Mariage,  hir  Lichtnes  was  verray  heidlang  and 
rasche,  sa  suddanely  foUowit  outher  inwart  E-epent- 
aunce,  or  at  leist  outward  Takinis  of  Change  in 
hir  AflPectioun  without  ony  causes  Appering.  For 
quhair  befoir  Tyme  the  King  was  not  only  Neglectit, 
bot  also  not  honorabilhe  usit,  at  length  began  oppin 
Haitrent  to  brek  out  againis  him,  specially  in  that 
Wynter  quhen  he  went  to  Pebles,  with  small 
Trayne,  evin  to  meane  for  the  Degre  of  ane  private 
Man  ;  not  being  sent  thether  a  Hawking,  bot  as  com- 


216 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


mandit  away  into  a  Corner,  far  from  Counsell  and 
Knawledge  of  publict  affairis.  Nouther  is  it  neces- 
sarie  to  put  in  Wryting  thay  Thingis,  quhilk  as  thay 
wer  than  as  a  Spectacle  notit  of  all  Mennis  Eyis,  sa 
now,  as  a  fresch  Image  thay  remane  imprentit  in  all 
Mennis  Hartis.  And  thocht  this  wer  the  Begin- 
ning of  all  the  Evilis  that  followit,  zit  at  the  first 
the  Practises  were  secreit,  sa  as  not  only  the  com- 
moun  Pepill,  bot  alswa  sic  as  wer  richt  familiar 
and  present  at  the  doing  of  mony  Materis,  culd 
not  understand  throuchly  quhat  Thing  the  Quene 
than  chiefly  intendit." 

While  the  Commissioners  were  in  London, 
Buchanan  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the  best  society 
the  city  could  then  offer.  With  the  family  of  Cecil, 
Elizabeth's  great  minister,  he  was  on  the  most  inti- 
mate footing.  To  the  wife  of  Cecil  he  addressed 
four  short  poems,  which  give  us  a  curious  glimpse 
into  the  society  of  the  time.  While  he  addresses 
her  in  a  strain  that  implies  intercourse  on  the 
friendliest  terms,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  suggest 
that  a  poet  is  a  privileged  person,  who  confers  a 
benefit  in  accepting  a  solid  reward  for  his  verses. 
Lady  Cecil  perfectly  understands  the  suggestion, 
and  not  only  meets  the  request  with  liberality,  but 
accompanies  her  present  with  a  Latin  poem,  which 
Buchanan,  as  a  matter  of  course,  declares  to  be 
infinitely  more  precious  to  him  than  her  gold.  To 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself  he  also  addressed  two 
poems — one  an  ode,  in  which  he  tells  her  that  her 
chief  claim  to  honour  is  to  have  restored  true  re- 
ligion and  rid  the  country  of  idle  monks  ;  the  other 
an  epigram  in  which  he  concludes  with  the  prayer 
that  she  may  ever  remain  simply  as  she  is,  since  he 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VEKNACULAR  WRITINGS.  217 


can  wish  her  no  gift  she  does  not  already  enjoy. 
But  his  most  pleasant  intercourse  in  London  must, 
we  should  think,  have  been  with  his  friend  Roger 
Ascham,  who  held  the  same  post  with  Elizabeth — 
that  of  classical  tutor — as  he  himself  had  lately 
held  with  Mary.  This  was  the  last  year  of  As- 
cham's  life,  and  when  they  parted  he  presented 
Buchanan  with  a  copy  of  Virgil,  accompanying  it 
with  an  inscription,  which  marks  the  affection  and 
admiration  with  which  he  had  come  to  regard  him  : 
"Rogerus  Aschamus  Georgio  Bucchanano,  Anglus 
Scoto,  Amicus  amico,  hunc  poetam  omnis  veteris 
memoriae  optimum,  Poetae  hujus  nostrae  aetatis 
Optimo,  amoris  ergo,  dono  dat."  Buchanan  acknow- 
ledges the  gift  in  some  graceful  lines,  which  prove 
that  the  esteem  was  mutual,  and  that  he  had  lost 
nothing  of  the  happy  skill  in  epigram  which  was 
the  envy  of  his  contemporaries.^ 

Moray  and  his  colleagues  returned  to  Scotland 
in  the  beginning  of  1569,  and  Buchanan  probably 
accompanied  them.^  As  they  were  the  direct  sequel 
of  the  proceedings  against  Mary,  this  seems  the 
most  suitable  place  to  give  some  account  of  two 
political  pamphlets  written  by  Buchanan  in  support 
of  the  Kings  party.  These  are  the  Admoiiitioun  to 
the  trew  Lordis^  and  the  Ghamaeleon,  both  in  the 
Scots  dialect.  Both  of  these  pamphlets  had  their 
origin  in  the  critical  state  of  affairs  that  followed 

^  Epig.  i.  39. 

2  At  least  he  was  in  St.  Andrews  in  April  1569.—  Sibbald,  Commen- 
tarius  in  Vitam  Georgii  Buchanani,  p.  66. 

3  The  full  title  is  "Ane  Admonitioun  direct  to  the  trew  Lordis 
niaintenaris  of  Justice  and  Obedience  to  the  Kingis  Grace".  In  the 
diary  of  Bishop  Lesley  there  is  the  following  reference  to  this  tract, 
under  date  9th  October  1571 :  "  Attulit  et  libellum  quendam  famosum 
compositum  per  Georg.  Bocha,  precipue  contra  Hamiltonios  et  Ducem 
Norfolcie." — Bannatyne  Miscellany,  vol.  iii.  p.  155. 


218 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  assassination  of  the  Regent  Moray,  and  they 
prove  that  Buchanan  was  no  mere  theoretical 
pohtician,  but  one  who  was  in  practical  contact 
with  the  affairs  of  the  day,  and  who  put  his  strength 
into  what  he  believed  to  be  the  righteous  cause. 
Both  pamphlets  are  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
idle  declamation  of  the  arm-chair  pohtician.  They 
show  keen  political  insight  into  the  situation,  and 
put  the  case  of  the  King's  party  with  telling  effect. 
It  is  proof  of  the  shrewd  sense  that  made  the  foun- 
dation of  his  character,  that  in  a  practical  cause  he 
avoided  the  rhetoric  of  literary  politicians  like 
Milton,  and  spoke  in  a  manner  that  could  make 
itself  felt  by  plain  men.  In  his  pithy  phrase  and 
firm  grasp  of  facts  he  suggests  Swift  and  Defoe 
rather  than  Milton  and  Burke,  though  behind 
Buchanan's  words  there  is  a  moral  intensity  of 
which  Swift  at  least  was  unconscious. 

In  the  Admonitioun  Buchanan's  main  contention 
is  that  in  the  safety  of  the  young  King  lies  the  only 
hope  for  liberty  and  religion  in  Scotland ;  and  the 
object  of  the  pamphlet  is  to  place  before  James's 
supporters  the  national  ruin  that  must  follow  the 
defeat  of  their  cause.  The  great  enemies  they  have 
to  fear  are  the  Hamiltons,  whose  triumph  would  only 
bring  disaster  to  King  and  country  alike.  To  make 
this  statement  good  he  sketches  at  length  the  his- 
tory of  that  family  through  the  last  half-century, 
and  proves  that  its  action  all  along  had  known  but 
one  motive — the  acquisition  of  the  Crown  for  the 
head  of  their  house.  By  religion  and  politics  alike 
Buchanan  was  opposed  to  the  aims  of  the  house  of 
Hamilton ;  and  his  feelings  were  whetted  by  the 
long-standing  feud  between  them  and  the  house  of 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  219 

Lennox.  The  Hamiltons  had  but  lately  murdered 
the  statesman  whom  Buchanan  had  admired  most, 
the  Regent  Moray ;  they  had  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  murder  of  Darnley  ;  it  was  through  them 
that  Darnley's  father  had  been  so  long  exiled  from 
Scotland ;  and  it  was  one  of  their  house  who  had 
brutally  slain  the  grandfather  of  Darnley  after  he 
had  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner  of  war.  Such 
being  his  relations  with  the  house  of  Hamilton,  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  Buchanan's  account  of 
their  family  history  would  be  perfectly  impartial. 
Yet,  in  the  main,  all  he  has  said  against  them  is 
fully  borne  out  by  the  facts  of  their  history  as  we 
now  know  it.  The  party  of  Mary  and  the  party  of 
Moray  both  stood  on  principles  which  high-minded 
men  could  adopt  in  the  honest  conviction  that  in 
enforcing  them  they  were  working  for  the  best 
interests  of  their  country.  But  the  Hamiltons 
played  fast  and  loose  with  either  party  according  as 
it  served  themselves,  and  steadily  sacrificed  the 
interests  of  the  country  in  the  interests  of  their 
own  house.  The  only  justification  of  their  self- 
seeking  policy  is  that  it  was  perhaps  more  than 
human  nature  in  that  age  could  endure  to  have  a 
crown  dangling  at  the  ends  of  their  fingers,  yet 
ever  eluding  their  grasp. 

The  other  pamphlet,  the  Chamaeleon,  is  directed 
against  Maitland  of  Lethington,  whose  policy  since 
the  fall  of  Mary  had  been  steadily,  though  stealthily, 
directed  against  the  party  to  which  Buchanan  be- 
longed. In  Buchanan's  view  of  the  best  interests 
of  the  country,  Maitland's  conduct  was  utterly 
inexplicable,  except  on  the  supposition  of  sheer 
factiousness  or  shameless  love  of  intrigue.    It  was 


220 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


through  him  more  than  any  one  else  that  Mary's  party 
still  made  head  in  Scotland,  and  thus  prevented  a 
firm  government  from  being  set  up,  which,  working 
in  union  with  England,  should  present  a  common 
front  against  the  great  Catholic  powers  of  Europe. 
In  this  belief,  and  under  the  conviction  that  Maitland 
was  privy  to  the  scheme  for  the  assassination  of 
Moray,  he  wrote  the  Ghamaeleon,  and  drew  a  portrait 
of  Lethington  with  just  that  amount  of  truth  and 
caricature  which  would  make  him  at  once  odious 
and  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen. 
Lethington's  career  certainly  lends  itself  easily 
enough  to  such  treatment.  At  one  time  or  other 
of  his  public  life  he  had  worked  in  concert  with  all 
the  leading  persons  in  the  country,  and  his  contem- 
poraries are  hardly  to  be  blamed  if  they  failed  to 
discover  in  his  tortuous  policy  the  unwavering  pur- 
pose of  the  true  patriot  and  great  statesman.  In  the 
seething  elements  of  civil  strife,  fanatical  zeal,  and 
hereditary  feuds  that  make  Scottish  history  of  this 
period,  Lethington  strikes  us  as  one  of  the  oddest 
apparitions  of  that  strange  time.  By  his  seductive 
charm,  his  ironical  wit,  his  lack  of  moral  intuitions,  his- 
insensibility  to  all  enthusiasms,  his  utter  irrelevance 
to  a  time  of  revolution,  he  is  perhaps  as  close  an 
approximation  to  a  Talleyrand  as  Scotland  could 
produce.^  The  news  had  reached  him,  it  appears, 
that  such  a  pamphlet  by  Buchanan  was  forthcom- 
ing, and  the  house  of  Lekprevik,  the  printer,  was 
searched  by  his  order.  Lekprevik,  having  had 
warning  of  the  visit,  made  his  escape  with  "  such 

^  The  well-known  doiLceur  siduisante  of  Talleyrand  seems  to  have 
been  equally  remarkable  in  Maitland.  Louis  xi,  had  this  quality  in 
equally  high  degree.  The  family  likeness  between  all  three  is  very 
evident. 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  221 


things  as  he  feared  should  have  hurt  him  The 
pubHcation  of  the  Chamaeleon  was  thus  stopped, 
and  it  was  not  printed  till  1710.  In  his  History  of 
Scotland,  Buchanan  had  again  occasion  to  deal  with 
the  character  and  career  of  Maitland.  He  speaks 
approvingly  of  his  early  promise  and  striking  talents, 
but  still  reprobates  what  he  considers  his  unprin- 
cipled desertion  to  the  enemy.  The  Chamaeleon 
is,  in  truth,  but  the  humorous  presentment  of 
Buchanan's  definitive  judgment  on  Lethington's 
character  and  entire  career.^  The  opening  para- 
graph of  Buchanan's  tract  will  give  the  reader  some 
idea  of  its  general  character  and  drift : — 

"  Thair  is  a  certane  kynd  of  beist  callit  Chamae- 
leon, engenderit  in  sic  countreis  as  the  sone  hes 
mair  strenth  in  than  in  this  yle  of  Brettane,  the 
quhilk,  albeit  it  be  small  of  corporance,  noghttheless 
it  is  of  ane  strange  nature,  the  quhilk  makis  it  to 
be  na  less  celebrat  and  spoken  of  than  sum  beastis 
of  greittar  quantitie.  The  proprieties  is  marvalous, 
for  quhat  thing  ever  it  be  applicat  to,  it  semis  to  be 
of  the  samyn  cullour,  and  imitatis  all  he  wis,  excepte 
onelie  the  quhy te  and  reid ;  and  for  this  caus  anciene 
writtaris  commonlie  comparis  it  to  ane  flatterare, 
quhilk  imitatis  all  the  haill  maneris  of  quhome  he 
fenzeis  him  self  to  be  friend  to,  except  quhyte, 
quhilk  is  taken  to  be  the  symboll  and  tokin  gevin 

1  Bannatyne's  Memorials,  p.  110.  It  has  been  asserted  that  Banna- 
tyne  is  not  a  sufficient  authority  for  this  story.  But  it  is  in  itself  in- 
trinsically probable ;  and  the  fact  remains  that  the  pamphlet  was  not 
published  till  1710.  There  must  therefore  have  been  some  reason  for 
its  non-appearance. 

2  It  has  been  inadvertently  affirmed  that  in  his  History  Buchanan 
presents  Maitland  in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in  which  he  pre- 
sents him  in  the  Chamaeleon.  Any  one  who  reads  the  nineteenth 
book  of  Buchanan's  History,  however,  will  see  that  this  is  far  from  being 
the  case.  The  gravest  accusations  brought  against  Maitland  in  the 
Chamaeleon  are  also  to  be  found  in  the  History. 


222 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


^  commonlie  in  devise  of  colouris  to  signifie  sempil- 
nes  and  loyaltie,  and  reid  signifying  manliness  and 
heroyicall  courage.  This  applicatioun  being  so  usit, 
zit  peradventure  money  that  hes  nowther  sene  the 
said  heist,  nor  na  perfyte  portraict  of  it,  wald  beleif 
sick  thing  not  to  be  trew.  I  will  thairfore  set  furth 
schortlie  the  descriptioun  of  sick  an  monsture  not 
lang  ago  engendrit  in  Scotland,  in  the  cuntre  of 
Lowthiane,  not  far  from  Hadingtoun,  to  that  effect 
that  the  forme  knawin,  the  most  pestiferous  nature 
of  the  said  monsture  may  be  moir  easelie  evitit :  for 
this  monsture  being  under  coverture  of  a  manis 
figure,  may  easeliar  endommage  and  wers  be  escha- 
pit  than  gif  it  wer  moir  deforme  and  strange  of  face, 
behaviour,  schap,  and  membris.  Praying  the  reidar 
to  apardoun  the  febilnes  of  my  waike  spreit  and 
engyne,  gif  it  can  not  expreme  perfy telle  ane  strange 
creature,  maid  by  nature,  other  willing  to  schaw  hir 
greit  strenth,  or  be  sum  accident  turnit  be  force 
frome  the  common  trade  and  course." 

But  these  two  pamphlets  of  Buchanan  have 
perhaps  a  stronger  interest  from  a  literary  and 
philological  than  a  historical  point  of  view.  The 
vernacular  style  in  which  they  are  written  is  unique 
in  Scottish  prose  literature.  Buchanan,  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  spoke  and  wrote  a  foreign  language 
for  more  than  thirty  years  of  his  life,  and  studied 
it  with'  such  intensity  that  it  became  to  him  as 
natural  a  vehicle  of  expression  as  his  mother  tongue. 
When  he  came  to  write  in  Scots  in  his  old  age, 
therefore,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  actually 
thought  in  Latin  what  he  wrote  in  Scots.  His 
two  pamphlets  leave  exactly  the  impression  of 
close  translations  from  the  Latin.    But  while  the 


THE  DETEGTIO  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  223 

syntactical  structure  of  his  sentences  is  thus  so 
distinctively  Latin,  no  Scottish  prose  of  the  period 
is  clearer  or  more  effective.  In  none  of  the  con- 
temporary Scottish  writers  do  we  find  any  concep- 
tion of  the  true  nature  of  a  sentence.^  So  long  as 
they  keep  to  short  periods  they  contrive  to  convey 
their  meaning  with  tolerable  success,  though  wholly 
without  rhythm  or  neatness  of  expression.  When 
they  embark  on  a  long  period,  they  hobble  through 
it  with  a  disregard  for  logical  relations  that  fills  a 
modern  reader  with  despair.  In  the  case  of  Knox, 
it  is  the  sheer  triumph  of  moral  and  intellectual 
force  that  gives  his  History  its  distinctive  flavour. 
Even  in  England,  as  is  well  known,  it  was  not  till 
long  after  this  date  that  the  compass  of  the  sentence 
was  clearly  apprehended.  In  speaking  of  the  de- 
velopment of  English  prose,  Coleridge  has  some 
remarks  which  find  interesting  illustration  in  the 
Scots  style  of  Buchanan.  If  you  take  Sophocles, 
Catullus,  Lucretius,  the  better  parts  of  Cicero,  and 
so  on,"  he  says,  "  you  may,  with  just  two  or  three 
exceptions  arising  out  of  the  different  idioms  as  to 
cases,  translate  page  after  page  into  good  mother 
English,  word  by  word,  without  altering  the  order.^'^ 
A  few  sentences  from  the  opening  of  his  Admoni- 
tion will  illustrate  the  truth  of  Coleridge's  remarks. 
Individual  words  are  given  in  modern  English  that 
the  rhythm  of  the  sentences  may  be  more  readily 
felt  :— 

It  may  seem  to  your  lordships  that  I,  meddling 
with  high  matters  of  governing  of  commonwealths, 
do  pass  mine  estate,  being  of  so  mean  quality,  and 

1  In  The  Complaynt  of  Scotland  we  have  something  of  the  conscious 
art  of  Buchanan. 

2  Table  TalJcy  vol.  ii.  p.  56  (Murray,  1835). 


224  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


forget  my  duty,  giving  counsel  to  the  wisest  of  this 
realm.  Not  the  less,  seeing  the  misery  so  great 
appearing,  and  the  calamity  so  near  approaching,  I 
thought  it  less  fault  to  incur  the  crime  of  surmount- 
ing my  private  estate  than  the  blame  of  neglecting 
the  public  danger.  Therefore  I  chose  rather  to 
underlie  the  opinion  of  presumption  in  speaking 
than  of  treason  in  silence,  and  specially  of  such 
things,  as  even  seem  presently  to  redound  to  the 
perpetual  shame  of  your  lordships,  destruction  of 
this  royal  estate,  and  ruin  of  the  whole  common- 
wealth of  Scotland.  On  this  consideration  I  have 
taken  in  hand  at  this  time  to  advertise  your  honours 
of  such  things  as  I  thought  to  appertain  both  to 
your  lordships  in  special,  and  in  general  to  the 
whole  community  of  this  realm,  in  punishment  of 
traitors,  pacification  of  troubles  among  yourselves, 
and  continuation  of  peace  with  our  neighbours." 

Nothing  could  be  clearer  than  the  syntax  of  this 
passage,  yet,  as  we  read,  we  are  inevitably  reminded 
of  the  grandiose  periods  of  Roman  oratory.  In  his 
familiar  letters  Buchanan  has  the  same  syntactical 
structure,  but  with  a  lighter  movement  and  quicker 
turns.  Unfortunately  only  two  of  these  letters  have 
been  preserved.  We  give  one  of  them  in  the  original 
Scots.  It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  good  reason  to 
regret  that  more  such  have  not  come  down  to  us. 
Its  companion,  also  addressed  to  Kandolph,  is, 
however,  the  racier  and  more  characteristic  of  the 
two.^ 

"To  Maister  Randolf  Squiar,  Maister  of  Postes 
to  the  Queues  Grace  of  Ingland.  Maister,  I 
half  resavit  diverse  letters  from  you,  and  yit  I 

1  See  also  Appendix  C. 


THE  DETECT  10  AND  VERNACULAR  WRITINGS.  225 

have  ansourit  to  nain  of  thayme :  of  the  quhylke 
albeit  I  haif  mony  excusis,  as  age,  forgetfulness, 
besiness,  and  disease,  yit  I  wyl  use  nane  as  now, 
except  my  sweirness  and  your  gentilnes  :  and  geif 
ye  thynk  nane  of  theise  sufficient,  content  you  with 
ane  confession  of  the  fait  w*out  fear  of  punition  to 
follow  on  my  onkindness.  As  for  the  present  I  am 
occupyit  in  writying  of  our  historie,  being  assurit  to 
content  few,  and  to  displease  mony  tharthrow.  As 
to  the  end  of  it,  yf  ye  gett  it  not  or  thys  winter  be 
passit,  lippin  not  for  it,  nor  nane  other  writyngs 
from  me.  The  rest  of  my  occupation  is  wyth  the 
gout,  quhilk  holdis  me  besy  both  day  and  ny*. 
And  quhair  ye  say  ye  haif  not  lang  to  lyif,  I  traist 
to  God  to  go  before  you,  albeit  I  be  on  fut,  and  ye 
ryd  the  post ;  praying  you  also  not  to  dispost  my 
hoste  at  Newyerk,  Jone  of  Kelsterne.  Thys  I  pray 
you,  partly  for  his  awyne  sake,  quhame  I  tho*  ane 
gud  fellow,  and  partly  at  request  of  syk  as  I  dar 
no*  refuse.  And  thus  I  tak  my  leif  shortly  at  you 
now,  and  my  lang  leif  quhen  God  pleasis,  committing 
you  to  the  protection  of  the  almy*ty.  At  Sterling 
XXV.  day  of  August,  1577. — Yours  to  command  w* 
service,  G.  Buchanan." 


r 


CHAPTER  XV. 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 

In  all  schemes  for  the  advancement  of  education  in 
Scotland,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  Buchanan 
would  be  consulted  as  the  highest  authority  in  the 
country.  His  European  reputation  as  a  scholar,  and 
his  wide  experience  as  a  practical  teacher,  marked 
him  out  as  the  one  man  fitted  to  place  Scotland 
abreast  of  other  countries  in  all  the  new  studies  and 
all  the  new  methods.  We  have  abundant  evidence 
that  he  took  the  keenest  interest  in  all  matters 
connected  with  education,  and  that  he  not  only  had 
a  leading  share  in  the  many  schemes  proposed  for 
the  improvement  of  the  universities,  but  that  more 
than  once  he  was  the  prompter  of  substantial  boons 
in  their  favour.  At  the  same  time,  the  protracted 
unsettlement  of  public  affairs  rendered  all  but 
abortive  the  best  endeavours  of  himself  and  the 
reformers  associated  with  him.  Lack  of  funds, 
divided  aims,  religious  dissensions,  civil  discord,  made 
impossible  that  system  of  national  education  so 
nobly  set  forth  in  the  Book  of  Discipline.  As  it  is, 
therefore,  Buchanan  is  not  to  be  ranked  with  such 
educationists  as  his  friend  Jean  Sturm,  whose  school 
at  Strasburg  was  his  so  durable  monument.  Even 
had  Buchanan  had  the  administrative  genius  of 

226 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  227 


Sturm,  which  is  very  doubtful,  it  could  never  have 
been  in  his  power,  as  things  then  went,  to  establish 
in  Scotland  such  a  school  for  secondary  education  as 
Sturm  was  able  to  set  up  in  Strasburg.  It  is  pro- 
bable, therefore,  that  Buchanan's  most  effective 
service  to  education  in  Scotland  was  mainly  through 
the  inspiration  of  his  own  great  name  as  a  scholar, 
and  his  life- long  devotion  to  learning.  That  his 
example  had  the  most  direct  and  potent  influ- 
ence on  the  studious  youth  of  Scotland  is  amply 
proved  by  testimonies  from  Andrew  Melville  to 
Melvin  of  Aberdeen.  His  poems,  also,  especially 
his  version  of  the  Psalms — systematically  used  in 
schools  in  the  teaching  of  Latin — themselves 
establish  for  him  a  solid  claim  on  the  gratitude  of 
his  countrymen. 

In  1566,  we  have  seen,  Moray  appointed 
Buchanan  principal  of  the  College  of  St.  Leonard 
at  St.  Andrews.  The  College  of  St.  Leonard  had 
originally  been  the  Hospital  of  St.  Leonard,  founded 
for  the  accommodation  of  pilgrims  who  came  to  see 
the  wonders  wrought  by  the  bones  of  St.  Andrew.  In 
1512  the  Hospital  had  been  converted  into  a  College 
by  Prior  Hepburn,  supported  by  Alexander  Stewart, 
Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  natural  son  of  James  iv. , 
best  known  as  the  pupil  of  Erasmus,  and  by  that 
scholar's  charming  account  of  his  character  and 
accomplishments.  This  conversion  had  been  made 
with  the  express  desire  "to  preserve  the  tempest- 
tost  bark  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  uphold  the  declining 
state  of  the  Church  ".^  Almost  from  the  beginning, 
however,  the  pious  desire  of  the  founders  was  doomed 
to  be  thwarted.    Its  second  principal,  Gavin  Logie 

^  Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  243. 


228 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


(1523-37),  was  one  of  the  earliest  Scotsmen  to  be 
affected  by  the  teaching  of  Luther ;  and  from  the 
date  of  his  rule  "  to  have  drunk  of  St.  Leonard's 
Well became  the  current  euphemism  for  heretical 
proclivities.  According  to  the  original  foundation, 
there  was  to  be  provision  for  a  principal,  four 
chaplains  (two  of  whom  were  to  be  regents),  and 
twenty  poor  scholars.^  The  internal  arrangements 
were  as  nearly  as  possible  those  of  a  convent — in 
diet,  religious  duties,  and  regulation  of  hours.  The 
students  were  in  turn  to  do  all  the  menial  work  of  the 
house,  a  cook  and  his  boy  being  the  only  servants. 
Before  bursars  were  admitted,  they  had  to  be  tested 
in  grammar  (that  is,  Latin  grammar),  and  in  their 
knowledge  of  the  Gregorian  Chant.  The  subjects 
taught  were  those  prescribed  by  all  the  medieval 
universities  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts — 
grammar,  logic,  physics,  philosophy,  metaphysics,  and 
ethics.  During  the  first  years  of  its  existence,  the 
"  College  of  Poor  Clerks as  its  founders  termed 
it,  was  cramped  by  the  poverty  of  its  endowments ; 
but  a  succession  of  energetic  teachers  and  managers 
won  it  a  reputation  which  brought  students  in  large 
numbers  from  the  ranks  of  the  nobility  and  clergy. 
By  the  charter  of  Cardinal  Beaton  (1544),  confirming 
the  foundation  of  St.  Leonard's,  the  Prior  of  St. 
Andrews  was  to  have  the  right  of  naming  the 
Principal ;  and  his  choice  was  to  be  made  from  the 
Ca,nons  of  the  Priory.  The  duties  of  the  Principal 
were  those  of  the  head  of  a  religious  house.  He 
was  to  superintend  the  domestic  economy  of  the 
College,  to  lead  all  the  religious  exercises,  and,  on 
Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  he  was  to  "  instruct  the 

1  Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  243. 


SEE-VICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  229 


presbyters,  regents,  and  all  others  who  chose  to 
attend,  in  sacred  and  speculative  theology 

Such  were  the  internal  arrangements  of  St. 
Leonard's  on  its  original  foundation.  As  the  period 
of  the  Beformation  approached,  however,  these 
arrangements  must  have  been  largely  modified,  both 
in  form  and  spirit,  and  all  the  more  that  its  principals 
and  regents  were  in  such  marked  sympathy  with 
the  new  opinions.  With  all  the  other  Scottish 
Colleges,  St.  Leonard's  suffered  greatly  from  the 
troubles  that  preceded  the  establishment  of  the 
reformed  religion.  In  1557,  ten  students  in  all 
attended  St.  Mary's,  ten  St.  Leonard's,  and  eleven 
St.  Salvator's.  In  1560,  the  numbers  were  respec- 
tively seven,  four,  and  seventeen;  and  in  1563, 
fifteen,  twelve,  and  twelve.^  At  St.  Andrews,  the 
reformers  had  little  difficulty  in  making  the  Univer- 
sity their  own.  St.  Leonard's,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
of  its  own  accord  accepted  the  new  conditions ;  and 
even  the  staff  of  St.  Mary's  College,  founded  as  late 
as  1553-4  by  Archbishop  Hamilton,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  checking  the  progress  of  heresy,  all  but 
unanimously  declared  for  the  enemy.  The  provost 
and  most  of  the  regents  of  St.  Salvator's  were  more 
faithful  to  the  intentions  of  the  founders,  and  pre- 
ferred to  quit  their  posts  rather  than  teach  on  the 
terms  dictated  to  them.  It  would  appear,  however, 
that  this  purging  was  not  so  thorough  as  we  might 
have  expected.  One  of  the  duties  imposed  on  the 
Commissioners  appointed  by  Parliament  in  1579  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  the  University  was  "  to 

^  Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  249.  These  duties  were 
doubtless  all  performed  by  Buchanan,  though  not  in  the  sense  intended 
by  the  founders. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  179. 


230 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


reform  sic  things  as  soundit  to  superstitioun, 
ydolatrie,  and  papistrie 

The  Reformers  being  now  masters  of  the  situation 
in  St.  Andrews,  the  progress  of  the  new  studies 
throughout  Europe  demanded  of  them  something 
more  than  the  mere  suppression  of  discredited 
religious  forms  and  doctrines.  If  the  University 
was  to  hold  its  own  with  other  seats  of  learning,  the 
entire  scheme  of  studies  would  have  to  be  recast 
and  adjusted  to  the  new  standards  of  the  intellectual 
revolution.  At  the  Reformation,  the  studies  and 
methods  pursued  in  all  the  three  Colleges  were 
wholly  those  of  Medievalism.  Canon  law,  that 
monstrous  birth  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  logic  and 
metaphysic  of  the  schoolmen,  made  the  staple  of  the 
curriculum.  Latin  had  a  distinct  place  assigned  to 
it ;  but  it  was  Latin  as  known  and  handled  by  men 
like  Major,  the  most  eminent  of  the  representative 
professors  at  St.  Andrews  before  the  Reformation. 
On  the  very  eve  of  the  Reformation,  as  we  learn 
from  the  case  of  Andrew  Melville,^  Greek  was  still 
unknown  in  St.  Mary's,  the  most  fully  equipped  of 
the  three  colleges.  While  the  curriculum  was  thus 
so  completely  antiquated,  the  overlapping  functions 
of  the  three  colleges  stood  in  the  way  of  the  effec- 
tive and  economical  organisation  of  the  University. 
There  was  no  organic  connection  between  the 
colleges,  and  the  various  subjects  of  study  were 
promiscuously  taught  in  each.  This  was,  of  course, 
the  case  with  all  the  colleges  of  the  medieval 
universities  ;  but  at  St.  Andrews,  where  the  number 
of  colleges  was  so  few,  and  funds  were  not  over- 
abundant, a  distinct  function  for  each,  and  an 

1  James  Melville's  Biary^  p.  39  (ed.  1842). 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


231 


organic  connection  between  all,  was  imperatively 
needed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  time. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  the  successive  authorities 
at  St.  Andrews  to  cast  undue  blame  on  them  be- 
cause so  late  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  number  of  students  was  so  limited  and  the 
programme  of  studies  so  antiquated.  The  keen 
religious  dissensions,  the  poverty  of  the  endowments, 
and  the  irresistible  attractions  of  the  great  foreign 
universities  for  such  a  wandering  nation  as  the 
Scots,  sufficiently  account  for  the  meagre  attendance 
without  injurious  inferences  as  to  the  energy  and 
capacity  of  its  teachers.  As  for  any  charge  of 
obscurantism,  St.  Andrews  was,  in  truth,  in  the 
same  case  with  all  the  ancient  universities  of  Europe. 
In  following  Buchanan's  own  career  we  have  seen 
the  general  attitude  of  Paris  to  all  the  lights  of  the 
Renaissance.  When  Francis,  inspired  by  Bude, 
founded  the  College  Royal  in  1530  for  the  study  of 
Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  it  was  in  the  teeth  of 
the  whole  University  ;  and  past  the  middle  of  the 
century  Greek  and  Hebrew  were  generally  regarded 
at  Paris  as  fit  only  for  heretics.  The  canon  law,  also, 
and  the  medieval  Aristotle,  continued  to  make  the 
most  essential  part  of  its  university  training  long 
after  their  futility  had  been  exposed  by  the  labours 
of  the  humanists.^  At  Oxford,  in  the  opening  years 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Colet's  novel  methods  of 
Biblical  interpretation,  though  strictly  within  the 
lines  of  orthodoxy,  were  disapproved  by  the  leading 
authorities,^  and  it  was  amid  a  storm  of  opposition 
that  the  study  of  Greek  gradually  made  way  in  that 

^  Crevier,  Histoire  de  V  UniversiU  de  Paris^  v.  passim. 
2  Seebohm,  Oxford  Reformers. 


232  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


university.  In  Cambridge,  under  the  auspices  of 
Bishop  Fisher,  Greek  found  readier  acceptance, 
though  Erasmus  in  1511  had  Httle  encouragement 
as  its  teacher;'  and  it  was  not  till  1535  that 
Medievalism  had  distinctly  the  worst  of  it  at  the 
English  universities.^  When  we  remember,  also, 
that  at  Wittemberg,  the  cradle  of  the  Reformation, 
Melanchthon,  who  died  in  1560,  had  to  struggle  to 
the  last  for  a  liberal  scheme  of  studies,  it  will  be 
understood  that  St.  Andrews,  and  with  it  the  other 
Scottish  Universities,  were  not,  in  fact,  so  very  far 
behind  their  neighbours.  It  is  worth  while  adding 
that,  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
time  had  fully  come  when,  in  the  interests  of  her 
intellectual  not  less  than  her  political  and  religious 
development,  Scotland  should  throw  in  her  lot  with 
England  rather  than  with  France.  While  the 
University  of  Paris  was  still  in  opposition  to  Renais- 
sance and  Reformation  alike,  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
had  definitely  accepted  the  new  order.  By  contact 
with  England,  therefore,  rather  than  with  France, 
could  she  be  a  partaker  in  the  best  results  of  the 
revival  of  letters  and  religion. 

In  the  deadly  earnest  which  characterised  all 
their  action,  the  Scottish  Reformers  set  about  the 
work  of  reconstruction  in  the  universities.  The 
scheme  they  proposed,  as  set  forth  in  the  Book  of 
Discipline  (1560),^  proved  abortive  for  the  time  in 

1  J.  B.  MuUinger,  The  University  of  Gainhridge^  pp.  493,  496. 

2  Ibid.  p.  631. 

^  The  following  paragraphs  from  "TheBuke  of  Discipline"  show  how 
comprehensive  were  the  aims  of  its  authors  : — "  Off  necessitie  thairfore 
we  judge  it,  that  everie  severall  Churche  have  a  Scholmaister  appointed, 
suche  a  one  as  is  able  at  least  to  teache  Grammer  and  the  Latine  toung, 
yf  the  Toun  be  of  any  reputatioun.  Yf  it  be  Vpaland,  whaire  the  people 
convene  to  doctrine  bot  once  in  the  weeke,  then  must  eathir  the  Reidar 
or  the  Minister  thair  appointed,  take  cayre  over  the  children  and  youth 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  233 


every  case,  but  their  ideals  had  a  most  direct  in- 
fluence on  the  subsequent  form  of  Scottish  university 
education.  With  regard  to  St.  Andrews,  which  was 
to  be  the  most  fully  equipped  of  all  the  universities, 
they  laid  it  down  that  each  of  the  three  colleges 
should  have  a  distinct  sphere  of  its  own — that  one 
should  provide  a  course  in  philosophy,  the  second  a 
course  in  law,  and  the  third  a  course  in  divinity. 
But  it  was  in  the  choice  of  subjects  that  the  uni- 
versity was  to  provide,  and  the  term  allotted  to 
each,  that  we  see  the  spirit  in  which  the  reform  was 
conceived,  and  the  degree  to  which  the  reformers 
had  profited  by  the  revival  of  letters. 

In  one  circumstance  they  completely  broke  with 
the  tradition  of  the  medieval  universities,  and 
therefore  with  the  tradition  of  St.  Andrews  itself 
By  the  arrangement  they  proposed,  Latin  grammar 
and  Latin  literature  were  to  have  no  place  in  the 
curriculum  of  university  studies.  As  is  well  known, 
the  medieval  university  was  at  once  an  elementary 
school,  a  secondary  school,  and  a  university  as  well. 
The  slender  provision  for  elementary  and  secondary 
education  in  the  various  countries  necessitated  this 
extended  sphere  of  the  university.    It  was  one  of 

of  the  parische,  to  instruct  them  in  thair  first  rudimentis,  and  especiallie 
in  the  Catechisme,  as  we  have  it  now  translaited  in  the  Booke  of  our 
Common  Ordour,  callit  the  Ordour  of  Geneva.  And  farther,  we  think 
it  expedient,  that  in  everie  notable  toun,  and  especiallie  in  the  toun  of 
the  Superintendent,  be  erected  a  CoUedge,  in  whiche  the  Artis,  at 
least  Logick  and  Rethorick,  togidder  with  the  Tongues,  be  read  be 
sufficient  Maisteris,  for  whome  honest  stipendis  must  be  appointed  ;  as 
also  provisioun  for  those  that  be  poore,  and  be  nocht  able  by  them  selfis, 
nor  by  thair  freindis,  to  be  sustened  at  letteris,  especialle  suche  as  come 
frome  Landwart. 

"  Last,  The  great  Schollis  callit  Universiteis,  shall  be  repleanischit  with 
those  that  be  apt  to  learnyng  ;  for  this  must  be  cairfullie  provideit,  that 
no  fader,  of  what  estait  or  conditioun  that  ever  he  be,  use  his  children  at 
his  awin  fantasie,  especiallie  in  thair  youth-heade  ;  but  all  must  be  com- 
pelled to  bring  up  thair  children  in  learnyng  and  virtue." 


234 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  largest  benefits  of  the  revival  of  learning  that  it 
created  and  did  much  to  supply  the  want  of  second- 
ary education.^  The  great  secondary  school  at 
Bordeaux,  with  which  we  have  seen  Buchanan 
connected — that  at  Carpentras,  over  which  another 
Scotsman,  Florence  Wilson,  for  a  time  presided — the 
famous  school  at  Strasburg,  remodelled  by  Sturm  in 
1537 — are  examples  of  the  efforts  made  by  humanists 
at  once  to  relieve  the  universities,  and  to  bring  a 
sound  education  within  the  reach  of  those  whom 
circumstances  prevented  from  attending  them.^  It 
was  therefore  in  the  spirit  of  the  most  advanced 
educationists  that  those  who  drafted  the  Book  of 
Discipline  cancelled  what  had  hitherto  formed  the 
elementary  portion  of  the  Arts  course  at  the  uni- 
versity. Had  their  project  for  establishing  second- 
ary schools  throughout  the  country  been  carried  into 
effect,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  whole  system  of 
education  would  thus  have  been  placed  on  a  broader 
basis,  and  the  result  been  the  immensely  quickened 
intellectual  life  of  the  nation.  It  was  doubtless  to 
Geneva  and  Strasburg  that  Knox  and  his  associates 
mainly  owed  their  far-sighted  views  on  national 
education.  Calvin's  academy  at  Geneva  was  not 
founded  till  1559  ;^  but  on  a  subject  so  near  to  the 
hearts  of  them  both,  we  may  be  sure  that  Knox  and 
Calvin  must  often  have  held  serious  discussion. 
Sturm  was  as  notable  a  figure  in  the  religious  as 
in  the  scholastic  world;  and  Knox  and  his  coadjutors 
could  not  but  have  heard  of  the  radical  reforms  he 

1  Cf.  Schmidt,  Vie  de  Sturm,  p.  222. 

2  Cf.  Gaufres,  Claude  Baduel  et  la  Reforme  des  Etudes  au  xvi'  Siecle 
(Paris,  1880). 

^  Calvin's  academy  was  based  on  the  plan  of  Sturm's  school  at 
Strasburg. 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


235 


had  so  successfully  carried  out  at  the  Strasburg 
Gymnasium. 

In  the  time  of  study  prescribed  for  the  various 
degrees  we  likewise  see  the  changed  attitude  as 
regards  the  claims  of  life  and  duty  that  had  been 
wrought  by  the  revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
By  the  arrangements  of  the  medieval  university, 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  could  not  be  taken 
before  the  age  of  thirty-five;  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  Book  of  Discipline  a  degree  in  divinity 
could  be  taken  by  the  age  of  twenty-four.  The 
term  required  for  the  doctorate  in  law  was  similarly 
shortened.  The  object  in  thus  curtailing  the  curri- 
culum was  clearly  at  once  to  prevent  stagnation  in 
the  university  itself,  and  to  let  society  have  the 
benefit  of  that  superabundant  energy  which  made 
the  more  mature  section  of  the  students  the  torment 
of  the  university  authorities.^ 

The  reforms  proposed  in  the  Book  of  Discipline 
were  thus  far  in  the  spirit  of  the  most  eminent 
educationists  of  the  time.  Nevertheless,  though 
these  reforms  owed  much  to  the  labours  of  the 
humanists,  the  spirit  of  humanism  is  conspicuously 
absent  in  all  the  plans  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Scottish  universities.  According  to  these  reforms, 
all  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  was 
to  be  gained  at  the  secondary  schools,  that  is  to 
say,  by  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen,  when  the 
student  was  supposed  to  be  ripe  for  the  university. 
After  a  three  years'  curriculum  in  dialectic,  mathe- 
matics, and  natural  philosophy,  he  was  expected  to 

1  As  is  well  known,  it  was  the  more  mature  students  who  gave  by 
far  the  most  trouble  to  the  authorities  of  the  medieval  universities. 
Cf.  MuUinger,  The  University  of  Cambridge,  p.  131. 


236  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

make  choice  of  divinity,  law,  or  medicine  as  the 
profession  he  should  eventually  adopt.  The  peculiar 
studies  of  the  humanist  were  thus  made  the  work 
of  boys  ;  and  the  universities  being  closed  against 
them,  no  sphere  was  left  for  scholars  who  should 
devote  their  lives  to  the  disinterested  study  of 
antiquity.  The  truth  is  that  humanism,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word,  never  found  a  home 
in  Scotland,  as  it  did  more  or  less  in  the  other 
countries  of  Europe.  The  true  humanist  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  was  one  who  was 
not  only  consumed  by  zeal  for  classical  learning, 
but  who  consciously  or  unconsciously  exalted  the 
classical  over  the  Christian  tradition,  and  who  re- 
garded life  with  a  kind  of  good-natured  irony, 
which  made  him  shrink  alike  from  asceticism  and 
rigour  of  creed.  Of  the  last  two  notes  of  human- 
ism, Scotland,  whether  for  good  or  ill,  learned 
nothing  from  the  Revival  of  Letters.  Had  the 
Renaissance  touched  her  before  the  Reformation 
it  might  have  been  otherwise.  But  as  it  was,  the 
Renaissance  came  to  her  through  the  Reformation, 
and  theology  dominated  her  schools  from  the  mo- 
ment of  her  new  birth.  In  England,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Italian  Renaissance  and  the  German 
Reformation  had  an  equal  share  in  building  up  the 
national  life  ;  and  the  Elizabethan  drama  was  made 
possible  not  less  than  Puritanism  and  the  Enghsh 
Church.  A  Scotsman  like  Andrew  Melville  might 
hold  his  own  against  any  foreign  scholar  in  the 
matter  of  classical  attainments ;  but  the  light  in 
which  he  viewed  these  attainments  was  peculiar  to 
him  as  a  Scotsman.  Drummond  of  Hawthornden 
is  the  only  Scotsman  of  eminence  in  whom  it  is 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


237 


possible  to  find  the  humanist  even  in  his  milder 
form ;  and  Drummond  all  through  his  life  felt 
himself  an  alien  in  a  strange  land.  In  the  so-called 
Moderatism  of  the  eighteenth  century  we  have  for 
the  first  time  after  the  Reformation  the  somewhat 
shabby  manifestation  of  the  less  worthy  side  of 
humanism. 

The  proposals  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  were 
not  carried  into  effect ;  and  during  the  next  few 
years  the  University  of  St.  Andrews  fell  into  a 
state  of  the  most  wretched  inefiiciency.  By  an  Act 
of  Parliament,  1563,  commissioners  were  appointed 
to  investigate  matters  in  that  University,  on  the 
ground  that  there  was  waisting  of  the  patrimony 
of  sum  of  the  fundatiounis  maid  in  the  Collegeis  of 
the  City  of  Sanctandros  and  uthers  placis  within 
this  Bealme  for  the  intertenement  of  the  youth,  and 
that  few  sciences  and  speciallie  thay  that  ar  maist 
necessaire,  that  is  to  say  the  toungis  and  humanitie, 
are  in  ane  part  not  teicheit  within  the  said  Citie  to 
the  greit  detriment  of  the  haill  liegis  of  this  Bealme". 
The  most  notable  among  the  commissioners  were 
Moray,  Maitland,  and  Buchanan.  They  were  to 
report  the  result  of  their  inquiry  the  following  year. 
This  they  failed  to  do  ;  and  the  only  memorial  of 
the  Commission  is  a  scheme  for  the  reconstruction 
of  the  three  colleges,  which  has  been  attributed  to 
Buchanan  himself^  This  scheme  difiers  greatly 
from  that  of  the  Book  of  Discipline,  and  is,  perhaps, 
to  be  regarded  as  a  compromise  necessitated  by  the 
state  of  the  time.  Buchanan's  plan,  however,  re- 
sembles that  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  in  assigning 

1  This  scheme  is  printed  by  Irving  (Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  Appen- 
dix III.)  from  a  manuscript  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh. 


238  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


a  separate  function  to  each  college.  One  of  the 
colleges  was  to  be  merely  a  secondary  school,  where 
the  "  tongues  and  humanity  "  should  be  learned  by 
way  of  preparation  for  the  studies  of  the  other  two. 
As  the  scheme  for  a  system  of  secondary  schools  had 
fallen  through,  it  is  evident  that  such  a  college  was 
a  simple  necessity.  In  this  college  there  were  to  be 
at  least  six  successive  classes,  in  which  Latin  and 
Greek  were  to  be  taught — Greek  only  in  the  three 
highest  classes.  In  certain  of  the  rules  for  its 
administration  there  are  points  which  afford  a  pre- 
sumption that  this  scheme  is  rightly  attributed  to 
Buchanan.  The  rule  for  the  Saturday  disputations, 
for  example,  is  exactly  that  of  the  college  at  Bor- 
deaux. So  also  is  the  rule  that  the  pedagogue  or 
regent  in  charge  of  the  bursars  in  their  private 
rooms  was  not  to  "  ding  his  disciples,"  nor  to  give 
distinct  lessons  of  his  own. 

The  second  college  was  to  supply  a  three  years' 
course  of  philosophy  and  medicine,  and  was  to  be 
conducted  by  the  Principal,  aided  by  four  regents, 
and  a  "  reader"  in  medicine.  The  third  was  to  be 
set  apart  for  divinity  and  law — its  entire  staff  to 
consist  of  a  principal,  who  was  also  to  act  as  reader 
in  divinity,  and  a  reader  in  law.  If  this  draft  of  a 
university  scheme  appear  ludicrously  inadequate,  it 
would  be  unjust  to  make  it  a  reproach  against 
Buchanan.  Things  had  not  gone  so  prosperously 
with  the  reformers  as  they  had  anticipated  ;  and 
they  had  been  taught  by  somewhat  bitter  experi- 
ence that  to  draw  up  constitutions  was  one  thing, 
to  embody  them  another.  The  plan  of  Buchanan, 
therefore,  is  to  be  considered,  not  by  any  means  as 
expressing  his  ideal  of  what  a  university  should  be. 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  239 

but  merely  what  in  the  circumstances  seemed  to 
him  possible. 

But  not  even  the  modest  scheme  of  Buchanan 
could  be  carried  into  effect;  and  things  at  St. 
Andrews  grew  gradually  worse,  in  spite  of  the 
ardent  wishes  of  the  reformers.  "  Eftir  the  first 
zeall  of  the  Reformation,"  says  James  Melville,  who 
speaks  with  personal  knowledge  of  the  University, 
"  regents  and  schollars  carit  na  thing  for  divini- 
tie  .  .  . ;  and  for  langages,  arts,  and  philosophy  they 
haid  na  thing  for  all,  bot  a  few  bulks  of  Aristotle, 
quhilk  they  lernit  pertinatiouslie  to  battle  and  flyt 
upon,  without  right  understanding  or  use  thairof" 
To  remedy  this  state  of  things  the  Parliament  once 
more  appointed  commissioners  (1579)  to  report  on 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews.  The  powers  given 
to  the  commissioners  show  how  complete  the  dis- 
organisation had  become.  They  were  to  visit  and 
consider  the  foundations,  to  remove  all  superstition 
and  Papistry,  to  displace  all  unqualified  persons, 
and  to  plant  qualified  persons  in  their  places;  to 
redress  the  forms  of  teaching  by  more  or  fewer  pro- 
fessors, to  join  or  divide  the  faculties,  to  annex 
every  faculty  to  such  college  as  should  be  found 
most  proper,  and  generally  to  establish  such  order 
as  should  most  tend  to  the  good  of  the  common- 
wealth. As  the  result  of  their  inquiry,  the  com- 
missioners drew  up  a  scheme  for  reforming,  or  rather 
reconstructing,  the  University.  This  scheme  used 
to  be  known  as  Buchanan's,  he  being  the  most  dis- 
tinguished scholar  among  the  commissioners.  It  is 
now  generally  spoken  of  as  being  mainly  the  work 
of  Andrew  Melville.  Buchanan  and  Melville  would 
doubtless  be  listened  to  with  respect  by  their  fellow- 


240 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


commissioners  ;  but  as  all  were  men  of  weight  and 
experience,  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  joint  produc- 
tion of  the  whole  body.^  It  certainly  has  little  of 
that  sobriety  of  judgment  which  so  pre-eminently 
distinguished  the  plan  of  the  Book  of  Discipline. 
By  this  new  scheme  St.  Salvator  s  and  St.  Leonard's 
were  both  to  be  Arts  colleges,  the  former  being 
additionally  equipped  with  regents  in  law  and 
medicine.  St.  Mary's  was  to  be  exclusively  a  col- 
lege of  theology.  The  course  of  study  prescribed 
for  this  particular  College  bears  the  stamp  of  Mel- 
ville's discursive  mental  habit,  and  ardent  though 
somewhat  impracticable  temper.  Buchanan,  with 
his  delicate  exactness  of  mind,  could  hardly  have 
suggested  an  impossible  course  of  study,  which 
could  only  have  produced  a  race  of  sciolists.  In 
the  College  there  were  to  be  five  professors,  and  the 
course  was  to  be  four  years.  The  first  professor 
was  to  teach  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Syriac  the  first 
year ;  the  second  was  to  apply  these  languages  to 
the  critical  explanation  of  the  Pentateuch  and  his- 
torical books ;  the  third  to  apply  them  to  the 
prophetical  books ;  the  fourth  was  to  compare  the 
Greek  Testament  with  the  Syriac  version,  and  the 
fifth  to  lecture  on  systematic  divinity.  According 
to  James  Melville,  this  theological  school  was  pri- 
marily intended  as  an  "  anti-seminary "  to  the 
Jesuit  seminaries ;  yet  in  the  list  of  studies 
Church  History  is  not  even  mentioned.  This  plan 
received  the  ratification  of  Parliament ;   but,  as 

1  M'Crie  {Life  of  Andreiv  Melville,  vol.  i.  p.  246)  says  that  "we 
have  direct  evidence  that  Melville  had  the  principal  hand  in  drawing 
up"  this  scheme.  The  proofs  which  he  gives  hardly  justify  such  a 
broad  statement. 

2  James  Melville's  Diary,  p.  76  (ed.  1842). 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  241 


might  indeed  have  been  expected  from  its  one-' 
sided  and  impracticable  character,  did  as  little  for 
the  University  as  its  predecessors.  When  Buchan- 
an entered  St.  Andrews,  therefore,  not  one  of  these 
many  schemes  had  been  carried  into  effect. 

Buchanan  was  Principal  of  St.  Leonard  s  from 
1566  till  1570.  Of  the  details  of  his  life  there,  or 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  his  duties, 
nothing  has  come  down  to  us.  The  few  facts  that 
have  been  gleaned  from  the  University  records  may 
be  briefly  related.^  For  the  three  successive 
years  after  his  appointment  he  was  one  of  the 
electors,  assessors,  and  deputies  of  the  rector  ;  and 
in  each  case  his  name  is  entered  with  the  addition, 
"  Poetarum  nostrae  memoriae  facile  princeps  ".^ 
From  November  1566  to  November  1567  he  was 
one  of  the  auditors  of  the  quaestor  s  accounts.  He 
was  never  either  rector  or  dean  of  the  faculty  of 
Arts.  "It  is  remarkable,"  says  the  writer  from 
whom  these  details  are  quoted,  "  that  no  students 
are  enrolled  as  belonging  to  St.  Leonard's  College 
in  1566  and  1567,  though  the  numbers  both  in 
St.  Mary's  and  St.  Salvator's  are  considerable.  In 

1568  more  students  entered  St.  Leonard's  than 
even  St.  Mary's,  which  had  generally  been  the  most 
numerously  attended  of  all  the  colleges  ;  and  in 

1569  the  numbers  enrolled  for  the  first  time  in  St. 
Leonard's  were  24,  while  those  at  St.  Mary's  were 
only  11,  and  those  at  St.  Salvator's  only  8."    It  is 

*  This  information  was  communicated  by  Dr.  Lee  to  Irving  {Memoirs 
of  Buchanan,  Appendix  iv.). 

2  Florent  Chrestien,  in  his  translation  of  Buchanan's  Jephthes,  speaks 
of  Buchanan  as  prince  des  poetes  de  nostre  siecW\  Henri  Estienne, 
also,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his  edition  of  Buchanan's  Psalms,  speaks  of  him 
as    poetarum  nostri  saeculi  facile  princeps  ". 

Q 


242 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


natural  to  suppose  that  the  great  name  of  Buchan- 
an may  have  had  something  to  do  with  this  pro- 
sperity of  St.  Leonard's  at  the  expense  of  its  rivals. 

There  is  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  Buchanan 
was  in  the  habit  of  preaching  during  his  stay  in  St. 
Andrews.-^  The  origin  of  this  tradition  may  have 
been  the  divinity  lectures,  which  by  the  original 
foundation  of  St.  Leonard's  he  was  bound,  as  Prin- 
cipal, to  deliver  every  Wednesday  and  Friday.  It 
may  also  have  originated  in  appearances  Buchanan 
may  have  made  at  the  weekly  exercise  of  "prophesy- 
ing", which  by  the  Book  of  Discipline  was  to  be  held 
in  every  town  "  where  schools  and  repaire  of  learned 
men  are  ".  Besides  the  ministers  of  religion,  the 
learned  men  of  the  neighbourhood  were  expected  to 
take  part  in  this  "  exercise  and  as  one  of  these 
'^learned  men",  Buchanan  may  have  distinguished 
himself  in  this  new  part. 

While  Buchanan  was  thus  so  closely  connected 
with  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  he  seems 
always  to  have  been  keenly  interested  in  that  of 
Glasgow,  and  never  to  have  lost  an  opportunity  of 
doing  it  substantial  good.  In  a  document  of  the 
latter  University,  of  February  1578,  it  is  stated,  in 
the  name  of  Andrew  Melville,  principal  of  the  Col- 
lege, that  a  certain  boon  is  conferred  on  one  John 
Buchanan  for  the  singular  favour  that  ane  honour- 
able man  George  Buchanan  teachar  of  our  Sovereign 
Lord  in  gude  lettres  hes  borne  and  shawen  at  all 
times  to  our  College  "  As  Mary's  grants  to  Glas- 
gow were  conferred  before  Buchanan's  breach  with 
her,  it  is  probable  that  he  should  have  some  credit 

1  M'Crie,  Life  of  Knox,  Note  A,  Period  Sixth. 

-  Munime7ita  Alme  Universitatis  Glasguensis,  vol.  i.  p.  123. 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND. 


243 


in  prompting  her  generosity.  In  the  new  founda- 
tion of  the  College  of  Glasgow  made  by  the  town  in 
1572,  by  which  Queen  Mary's  foundation  was  over- 
thrown, Buchanan  undoubtedly  took  an  active  part. 
It  has  been  suggested,  in  fact,  that  the  Latin  of  the 
deed  may  be  the  work  of  Buchanan.  The  opening 
sentences  have  certainly  all  the  freedom  and  im- 
petuosity of  movement  that  give  his  Latin  style  its 
distinctive  character.  In  the  desire  the  writer 
expresses  also  that  Glasgow  College  may  turn  out 
as  many  scholars  as  the  Trojan  horse  turned  out 
heroes,  we  are  reminded  of  the  common  saying 
regarding  Buchanan's  old  College  of  Ste.  Barbe. 
What  is  known  as  the  Erectio  Regia  was,  likewise, 
in  all  probability,  largely  due  to  Buchanan's  influence 
with  Morton.  His  name  is  attached  to  the  deed 
as  "  our  dear  Privy  Councillor,  George  Buchanan, 
Pensioner  of  Crossraguel,  and  Keeper  of  the  Privy 
Seal"  }  A  valuable  gift  of  Latin  and  Greek  books 
gave  further  proof  of  Buchanan's  good-will  towards 
the  College  of  Glasgow.^ 

A  humbler  example  of  Buchanan's  eager  interest 
in  education  also  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  In 
Scotland,  as  in  other  countries,  the  multiplicity  of 
Latin  Grammars  that  followed  the  growth  of  the 
new  studies  became  a  serious  drawback  to  the 
efiicient  teaching  of  the  language.^  Accordingly,  a 
committee  of  four  scholars,  with  Buchanan  as  presi- 
dent, was  appointed  to  consider  the  difiiculty.  They 
decided  that  three  of  their  number  should  compile 
a  Grammar  which  should  supersede  those  in  use. 

^  Munimenta  Alme  Universitatis,  vol.  i,  p.  103. 

Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  407. 
^  Cf.  Schmidt,  Vie  de  Sturm,  chap.  iii.  part  ii. 


244 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Prosody  was  the  part  of  the  task  assigned  to 
Buchanan.  All  three  accomplished  their  tasks, 
but  the  Grammar,  though  the  joint  production  of 
three  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  in  Scotland  at 
the  time,  failed  to  serve  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  intended. 

It  was  said  in  connection  with  Buchanan's 
regenting  in  Ste.  Barbe  that  the  labours  of  the 
practical  teacher  were  probably  little  to  his  mind. 
However  this  may  be,  he  seems  to  have  possessed 
in  rare  degree  the  faculty  of  interesting  and  attract- 
ing youth.  Buchanan,"  says  one,  who  as  a  young 
man  had  been  personally  acquainted  with  him, 
— Buchanan  was  of  such  flexibility  of  mind  that 
with  boys  he  became  a  boy  ;  he  had  alike  the  faculty 
and  the  will  to  adapt  himself  to  every  time  of  life, 
yet  always  in  such  a  way  as  never  to  forfeit  the 
respect  due  to  himself"  ^  To  the  very  end,  when 
broken  in  body  and  harassed  in  mind,  he  never  lost 
that  most  delightful  trait  of  old  age,  the  surest 
proof  of  a  genial  and  simply  sincere  character — a 
sympathetic  interest  in  the  young.  Of  this  trait 
in  his  character  we  have  almost  pathetic  evidence 
in  his  relations  with  two  young  men,  who  seem 
to  have  won  his  special  affection.  One  of  these, 
Jerome  Groslot,  was  the  son  of  a  man  from  whom 
Buchanan  had  received  much  kindness  during  his 
sojourn  in  France ;  and  the  last  letter  written  by 
Buchanan  that  has  come  down  to  us  was  addressed 
to  Beza  on  his  behalf    This  letter  deserves  to  be 

^  Erat  enim  vir  ille  ea  ingenii  dexteritate,  ut  cum  pueris  repueras- 
cere,  et  ad  omnes  omnium  aetatum  usus  modeste  et  sapienter  sese 
accommodare  et  posset  et  vellet."— Julius,  Ecphrasis  Faraphraseos  G. 
Buchanani  in  Psalmos  Davidis,  epist.  nunc.  Lond.  1620,  8vo.  (Quoted 
by  Irving,  p.  239.) 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  245 

given  in  full,  as  it  brings  before  us  a  side  of  his 
character  which  the  Detectio  and  such  lines  as  his 
epigram  on  Major  are  apt  to  make  us  forget.  It  is 
dated  Edinburgh,  15th  July  1581,  that  is  to  say,  a 
year  and  two  months  before  his  death. 

"[Distracted  though  I  am  by  manifold  engage- 
ments, and  so  poor  in  health  that  I  have  hardly 
leisure  for  the  ordinary  duties  of  life,  yet  the  depar- 
ture of  Jerome  Groslot  has  deprived  me  of  every 
excuse  for  not  taking  up  my  pen.  During  my  stay 
in  France,  his  father,  a  man  of  some  eminence  in 
the  State,  overwhelmed  me  with  kindness,  and  his 
son  while  in  this  country  has  honoured  me  as  a 
second  parent.  Had  I  ignored  the  kind  offices  of 
the  one,  or  the  pleasant  intercourse  of  the  other,  or 
your  own  unvarying  good  feeling  towards  me,  I 
should  have  justly  incurred  the  gravest  charge  of 
ingratitude.  Let  me  say,  however,  that  those  w^ho 
best  know  the  present  state  of  my  affairs  would 
readily  have  cleared  me  even  from  this  charge.  This 
is,  indeed,  my  best  apology,  that  I  am  in  simple  truth 
but  the  shadow  of  my  former  self  I  have  not  even 
the  hope  of  forming  new  friendships,  or  of  keeping 
up  the  old.  I  speak  thus  the  more  freely,  as  you 
will  have  the  opportunity  of  learning  from  Groslot 
how  things  really  stand  with  me.  Him  I  fancy  I 
need  not  recommend  to  you.  His  character  and 
acquirements  will  speak  for  themselves.  Still,  I 
have  obeyed  custom,  and  have  supplied  him  with 
the  accompanying  testimonial.  As  to  myself,  since 
I  am  no  longer  equal  to  the  interchange  of  friendly 
offices,  I  shall  indulge  in  silence."  The  following 
is  the  testimonial : — "  Jerome  Groslot,  a  youth  of 
Orleans,  the  bearer  of  this  letter,  though  born  in  a 


246 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


distinguished  city,  and  of  distinguished  parents,  is 
yet  much  more  notable  by  his  misfortunes.  In  the 
poHtical  confusions  of  his  native  country,  'and  the 
universal  infatuation  of  its  citizens,  he  lost  his 
father  and  his  inheritance,  and  narrowly  escaped 
with  life.  Unable  to  live  in  safety  at  home,  he 
chose  Scotland  as  his  place  of  abode  till  the  violence 
of  civil  strife  should  somewhat  abate.  In  the  pre- 
sent comparative  lull,  his  private  affairs  calling  for 
his  return,  he  has  resolved  to  travel  by  way  of 
England,  in  order  that,  like  Ulysses  of  old,  he  may, 
as  far  as  a  passing  visitor  may,  become  acquainted 
with  the  various  manners  and  cities  of  men — cer- 
tainly not  the  least  important  part  of  civil  wisdom. 
This  journey,  as  I  am  justified  in  hoping  from  the 
manner  in  which  he  profited  by  his  previous  one,  he 
will  not  make  without  large  benefit  to  hiiaself.  While 
hi  Scotland  he  lived  not  as  a  foreigner,  but  as  our 
fellow-citizen.  To  learning  he  has  devoted  himself 
with  the  aim  that  it  should  not  be  merely  a  solace 
in  his  misfortunes,  but  a  means  of  livelihood  for 
himself  and  those  dependent  on  him.  In  a  case  like 
this,  it  is  not  for  me  to  persuade  or  exhort  you  to 
show  kindness  to  a  youth  so  full  of  promise.  This 
the  whole  tenor  of  your  life  and  the  bond  of  a 
common  faith  demands,  nay,  constrains,  you  to  show, 
if  you  are  to  be  worthy  of  yourself" 

The  other  youth  (whom  Buchanan  seems  to  have 
regarded  with  still  warmer  feelings  than  Groslot) 
was  Alexander  Cockburn,  who  died  in  1564  at  the 
age  of  twenty-eight.  Cockburn  was  a  pupil  of 
Knox,  who  mentions  him  more  than  once  in  his 
History.  The  dates  of  his  birth  and  death  are 
wrongly  given  by  Dempster.    The  right  dates  are 


SERVICES  TO  EDUCATION  IN  SCOTLAND.  247 


supplied  by  the  mural  brass  at  Ormiston/  Buchanan 
has  given  expression  to  his  keen  regret  on  the 
death  of  Cockburn  in  two  poems,  which  justify  us 
in  believing  that  his  early  death  was  a  loss  to  the 
literature  of  his  country.  The  best  of  the  two 
poems  may  be  given  here  :  ^ — 

Omnia  quae  longa  indulget  mortalibus  aetas, 

Haec  tibi,  Alexander,  prima  juventa  dedit. 
Cum  genere  et  forma  generoso  stemmate  digna, 

Ingenium  velox,  ingenuumque  animum. 
Excoluit  virtus  animum,  ingeniumque  Camoenae 

Successu,  studio,  consilioque  pari. 
His  ducibus  primum  peragrata  Britannia,  deinde 

Gallia  ad  armiferos  qua  patet  Helvetios. 
Doctus  ibi  linguas,  quas  Roma,  Sion,  et  Athenae, 

Quas  cum  Germano  Gallia  docta  sonat. 
Te  licet  in  prima  rapuerunt  fata  juventa, 

Non  immature  funere  raptus  obis. 
Omnibus  officiis  vitae  qui  functus  obivit, 

Non  fas  est  vitae  de  brevitate  queri.^ 

Another  young  Scot,  whose  meteoric  career  has 
left  a  faint  trail  even  to  the  present  day,  the 
Admirable  Crichton,  made  it  a  boast  to  the  great 
printer  Aldus  Manutius  that  he  had  been  a  pupil 
of  Buchanan.  The  boast  is  a  tribute  to  the  fame 
of  Buchanan ;  but,  like  many  other  assertions  of 
Crichton,  it  is  probably  untrue.  Crichton  was 
first  enrolled  as  a  student  at  the  College  of  St. 
Salvator's  in  1570,  at  the  age  of  ten.  But  Buchanan, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  no  connection  with  St.  Salva- 
tor  s,  and  it  was  in  1570  (probably  in  the  beginning 

1  See  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  vol.  iv. 
Epig.  ii.  26. 

^  These  lines  were  engraved  on  a  mural  brass  in  the  aisle  of  the  old 
church  at  Ormiston  Hall.  The  brass  still  exists,  and,  according  to  David 
Laing,  is  of  the  same  date  as  that  in  St.  Giles',  Edinburgh,  to  the  memory 
of  the  Regent  Moray,  the  inscription  on  which  was  also  written  by 
Buchanan. 


248 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  the  year)  that  he  gave  up  the  principalship  of 
St.  Leonard's  to  become  tutor  to  King  James. 

Of  Buchanan's  relations  with  the  most  notable 
of  all  his  pupils,  King  James  himself,  a  special 
account  must  be  given  in  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVL 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES — PUBLIC  LIFE. 

For  about  a  year  after  his  return  to  Scotland 
Buchanan  still  continued  to  act  as  Principal  of 
St.  Leonard's.  Of  that  year  the  most  important 
event  was  the  assassination  of  the  Kegent  Moray, 
in  whom  Buchanan  lost  one  of  his  best  friends,  and 
whose  death,  as  affairs  then  stood,  he  deemed  the 
heaviest  calamity  that  could  have  befallen  Scot- 
land. "Buchanan,"  says  Randolph  in  a  letter  to 
Cecil,  "  hath  not  rejoiced  since  the  Regent's  death."  ^ 
We  have  seen  from  the  poems  Buchanan  addressed 
to  Moray  on  what  terms  he  stood  with  him.  From 
his  History  we  also  gather  that  he  was  occasionally 
a  guest  at  the  Regent's  house.  ^  When  all  allowance 
is  made  for  the  partiality  of  friendship,  and  identity 
of  conviction  on  the  deepest  subjects,  the  estimate 
Buchanan  has  given  of  Moray  is  probably  nearer 
the  truth  than  any  other  that  has  come  down  to  us. 
What  he  says  amounts  to  a  panegyric  ;  yet  there  is 
a  careful  precision  in  his  words  which  gives  the  im- 
pression that  he  is  tracing  a  portrait,  not  drawing 
on  mere  partial  fancy.    It  is  certainly  the  Moray 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers  (Scotland).  In  this  letter  Randolph 
encloses  Buchanan's  epigram  on  the  death  of  Moray, 

2  Rer.  i^cot.  Hist.  lib.  xix.  p.  385. 

249 


250 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  Buchanan  who  became  the  tradition  of  the 
Scottish  people. 

The  death  of  Moray  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the 
King's  party ;  but  its  leaders  were  resolved  that  Mary 
should  never  again  sit  on  the  throne.  Lennox  was 
appointed  Moray's  successor,  and  every  step  was 
taken  to  give  credit  to  James's  government.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Privy  Council  in  March  1570,  it  was 
resolved  that  provision  should  be  made  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  King,  then  only  four  years  of  age.  As 
the  most  eminent  Scotsman  in  the  scholastic  world, 
Buchanan  was  naturally  thought  of  for  this  respon- 
sibility. He  was  accordingly  directed  to  leave 
St.  Leonard's,  and  thenceforward  to  devote  himself 
to  the  young  King.-^ 

It  has  abundantly  appeared  that  all  through 
life  Buchanan  had  a  noble  interest  in  the  cause  of 
education.  It  was  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that 
he  would  enter  on  his  new  duties  with  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  responsibility  that  would  lie  upon  him 
both  to  his  pupil  and  the  country.  He  was  now 
sixty-four  years  of  age,  and  his  infirmities  made  him 
even  older  than  his  years.  He  was  not,  therefore, 
in  all  respects  specially  fitted  for  the  task  imposed 
upon  him.  Yet  as  the  larger  half  of  his  literary 
work,  and,  as  he  himself  considered,  the  more  im- 
portant half,  was  produced  after  this  date,  it  is  clear 
that  the  energy  of  his  mind  was  in  no  degree  abated. 

1  Privy  Council  Eecords.  The  Act  begins  thus  :  "The  Lords  of 
Secret  Council  and  others  of  the  nobility  and  estates,  being  convened 
for  taking  order  in  the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth,  among  other 
matters  being  careful  of  the  King's  Majesty's  preservation  and  good 
education,  and  considering  how  necessary  the  attendance  of  Mr.  George 
Buchanan,  Master  of  St.  Leonard's  College  within  the  University  of 
St.  Andrews,  upon  his  Highness  shall  be,  and  it  behoves  the  said  Mr. 
George  to  withdraw  himself  from  his  charge  of  the  said  College,"  etc. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


251 


It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  exact  share  Buchanan 
himself  took  in  James's  education.  In  the  dedica- 
tion of  his  History  to  the  King  he  expressly  states 
that  he  had  been  prevented  by  incurable  ill-health 
from  discharging  that  part  in  James's  education 
which  had  been  assigned  to  him,  and  mentions 
as  one  of  his  motives  in  writing  his  History  that 
it  would  in  some  degree  make  amends  for  the 
unavoidable  neglect.  After  1578,  when  James 
began  to  be  made  use  of  by  the  enemies  of  Morton, 
his  studies  must  have  been  somewhat  interrupted. 
By  that  date,  also,  Buchanan  was  in  his  seventy- 
second  year,  and  his  chronic  ill-health  had  almost 
overpowered  him.  From  James's  fourth  to  his 
twelfth  year,  however,  we  are  justified  in  thinking 
that  Buchanan  not  only  exercised  a  general  super- 
intendence over  his  education,  but  in  certain  branches 
himself  gave  his  pupil  instruction. 

In  the  school-room  in  Stirling  Castle  several 
youths  of  noble  family  received  their  education 
along  with  the  young  King.  Among  these  were 
the  young  Earl  of  Mar,  Sir  William  Murray  of 
Abercairney  (a  nephew  of  the  Countess  of  Mar), 
Walter  Stewart,  afterwards  Lord  Blantyre  and  Lord 
High  Treasurer,  and  Lord  Invertyle.^  The  family 
of  Mar  were  the  hereditary  guardians  of  the  King, 
and  on  the  death  of  the  Regent  Mar  in  1572  the 
care  of  James's  person  was  intrusted  to  his  widow 
and  his  brother,  Sir  Alexander  Erskine.  David  and 
Adam  Erskine,  Commendators  of  Dryburgh  and 
Cambuskenneth,  were  appointed  to  superintend  the 
King's  training  in  bodily  exercises  and  accomplish- 
ments.    In  the  care  of  his  studies  Buchanan  had 

1  M'Crie,  Life  of  Andrew  Melville,  vol.  i.  p.  105. 


252  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

for  assistant  Peter,  afterwards  Sir  Peter,  Young, 
of  whom  he  speaks  with  cordiaHty  and  respect/ 
Among  Young's  papers  there  is  a  sketch  of  a  day's 
work  at  a  particular  period  of  James's  education.'-^ 
After  morning  prayers  he  read  Greek — the  New 
Testament,  Isocrates,  and  Plutarch  ;  after  breakfast 
Cicero  and  Livy  or  modern  history.  The  afternoon 
was  devoted  to  composition,  and,  when  time  per- 
mitted, to  arithmetic  or  cosmography,  or  logic  and 
rhetoric.  It  has  been  suggested  that  James's 
Essay es  of  a  Prentise  in  the  Divine  Art  of  Poesie, 
published  in  1585,  three  years  after  Buchanan's 
death,  may  have  been  themes  written  by  him  for 
his  teachers.^  The  twelve  "  sonnets"  that  make  up 
these  essayes  are  certainly  near  the  level  of  a  school- 
boy's performance,  and  they  have  all  the  marks  of  a 
theme  written  to  order.  But  even  if  it  were  so,  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  conclude  that  Buchanan  had 
any  disposition  to  give  the  vernacular  an  important 
place  in  his  pupils'  studies.  Like  his  friend  Sturm, 
Buchanan  confidently  believed  that  Latin  must  one 
day  be  the  universal  language  of  Europe,  and  that 
it  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  common 
people  of  each  country  should  abandon  their  respec- 
tive mother  tongues.  This,  with  the  majority  of 
the  humanists,  they  regarded  as  the  necessary  and 
legitimate  result  of  the  revival  of  letters.  Sturm's 
end  in  education  was  what  he  called  pietas  literata 
— true  religion  combined  with  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics ;  and  for  him  the 
mark  of  the  highest  culture  was  the  command  in 

^  Epist.  vi.  and  vii. 

"  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  160. 

^  M'Crie,  Life  of  Andrew  Melville,  vol.  i.  p.  102. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


253 


speech  and  writing  of  pure  and  elegant  Latinity.^ 
There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  Sturm's  ideal 
was  also  the  ideal  of  Buchanan.  Though  he  was  a 
master  of  the  Scottish  dialect,  and  had  Knox's 
example  before  him,  he  yet  deliberately  chose  to 
write  the  History  of  his  native  country  in  the 
language  which  he  knew  would  give  him  all  Europe 
for  his  readers.^  With  such  training,  and  under  such 
masters,  James,  with  his  natural  cleverness,  could 
hardly  fail  to  make  rapid  progress  in  learning. 
What  the  result  was  everybody  knows.  He  became 
"the  only  English  prince  who  has  carried  to  the 
throne  knowledge  derived  from  reading  or  any  con- 
siderable amount  of  literature  ".^  Late  historians 
have  formed  a  somewhat  higher  opinion  of  James's 
character  and  capacity  than  what  had  become  the 
traditional  one  ;  ^  yet  after  the  most  generous  con- 
struction the  fact  remains  that  his  mind  was  essen- 
tially of  that  type  which  knowledge  neither  broadens 
nor  enriches. 

While  Buchanan  impressed  on  James  "  that  a 

1  "  Quid  enim  utilius  in  hac  vita  quam  pura  mens  et  pura  oratio, 
quid  jucundius  quam  elegans  vita  et  elegans  oratio  ?  " — Charles  Schmidt, 
Jean  Sturm :  Sa  Vie  et  ses  ouvrages,  p.  247. 

^  The  following  passage  from  Buchanan's  History  (p.  4)  is  interesting 
as  directly  bearing  on  this  subject : — "  Quod  ad  me  attinet,  malim 
ignorare  veterera  illam  et  anilem  priscorum  Britannorum  balbutiem 
quam  dediscere  quodcunque  hoc  est  sermonis  Latini,  quod  magno  cum 
labore  puer  didici.  Neque  aliud  est,  cur  minus  moleste  feram  priscam 
Scotorum  linguam  paullatim  intermori,  quam  quod  libenter  sentiam 
barbaros  illos  sonos  paullatim  evanescere,  et  in  illorum  locum  Latinarum 
vocum  amoenitatem  succedere.  Quod  si  in  hac  transmigratione  in 
alienam  linguam,  necesse  est  alteros  alteris  concedere,  nos  a  rusticitate 
et  barbaria  ad  cultum  et  humanitatem  transeamus  :  et  quod  nascendi 
infelicitate  nobis  evenit,  voluntate  et  judicio  exuamus :  aut,  si  quid 
opera  et  industria  possimus,  id  omne  eo  conferamus,  ut  linguam  Graecam 
et  Latinam,  quas  orbis  pars  melior  tanquam  publicas  recepit,  pro  viribus 
expoliamus,  et  si  quis  ex  contagio  barbari  sermonis  adhaesit  situs  et 
squalor,  quoad  fieri  possit,  extergeamus." 

3  Mark  Pattison,  Life  of  Casaubon,  p.  296. 

*  Mr.  Gardiner,  for  example.  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  48  (1883). 


254  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

king  ought  to  be  the  most  learned  clerk  in  his 
dominions",  he  was  far  from  thinking  that  mere 
learning  was  a  sufficient  qualification  for  a  good 
ruler.  In  a  poem  addressed  to  his  friend  Sir 
Thomas  Randolph,  the  English  resident  in  Scot- 
land, he  has  told  us  in  few  words  what  to  his  mind 
a  good  prince  should  be  :  "  You  often  urge  me  to 
paint  for  you  what  manner  of  king  I  should  wish, 
were  God  to  grant  one  according  to  my  prayer. 
Here,  then,  is  the  portrait  you  want.  In  chief,  I 
would  have  him  a  lover  of  true  piety,  deeming  him- 
self the  veritable  image  of  highest  God.  He  must 
love  peace,  yet  be  ever  ready  for  war.  To  the 
vanquished  he  must  be  merciful ;  and  when  he  lays 
down  his  arms  he  must  lay  aside  his  hate.  I  should 
wish  him  to  be  neither  a  niggard  nor  a  spendthrift, 
for  each,  I  must  think,  works  equal  harm  to  his 
people.  He  must  believe  that  as  king  he  exists  for 
his  subjects  and  not  for  himself,  and  that  he  is,  in 
truth,  the  common  father  of  the  State.  When  ex- 
pediency demands  that  he  shall  punish  with  a  stern 
hand,  let  it  appear  that  he  has  no  pleasure  in  his 
own  severity.  He  will  ever  be  lenient  if  it  is  con- 
sistent with  the  welfare  of  his  people.  His  life 
must  be  the  pattern  for  every  citizen,  his  counten- 
ance the  terror  of  evil-doers,  the  delight  of  those 
that  do  well.  His  mind  he  must  cultivate  with 
sedulous  care,  his  body  as  reason  demands.  Good 
sense  and  good  taste  must  keep  in  check  luxurious 
excess."  ^ 

Buchanan  certainly  lost  no  opportunity  of  im- 


^  Epigram,  ii.  27.  With  these  lines  of  Buchanan  it  is  interesting 
to  compare  the  epigram  in  which  James  dedicates  his  Basilikon  Doron 
to  his  son  Henry. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


255 


pressing  on  James  this  ideal  of  his  future  duties. 
The  three  works  in  which  he  has  set  forth  his  concep- 
tion of  the  true  relation  that  should  hold  between 
king  and  subject,  he  dedicated  to  him  in  plain-speak- 
ing prefaces,  which  in  after  years  James  regarded  as 
little  short  of  blasphemous.  The  dedication  of  the 
Baptistes  has  already  been  noted.  In  the  dedica- 
tion of  his  History  he  says  that  he  was  largely 
influenced  in  undertaking  it  by  the  desire  that  it 
might  tend  to  the  profit  of  his  Majesty.  We  shall 
afterwards  see  from  what  point  of  view  Buchanan 
regarded  the  constitutional  history  of  Scotland.  At 
present,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  ran  counter 
at  every  point  to  what  was  eventually  James's  own. 
That  Buchanan  should  have  dedicated  to  James 
his  Be  Jure  Regni,  a  tract  which  every  crowned 
head  in  Europe  was  bound  to  regard  as  the  most 
monstrous  compound  of  treason  and  impiety,  cannot 
but  provoke  a  smile  in  the  light  of  what  his  pupil 
was  afterwards  to  become.  What  James  came  to 
think  of  these  well-meant  efibrts  to  make  him  a 
man  and  a  king,  his  manner  of  speaking  of  Buchanan 
and  his  works  very  plainly  showed.  Yet  it  is  clear 
that  Buchanan  must  have  made  an  impression  on 
him  which  he  never  forgot.  Of  a  certain  personage, 
James,  when  come  to  manhood,  was  wont  to  say 
"that  he  ever  trembled  at  his  approach,  it  minded 
him  so  of  his  pedagogue  ^  He  had  a  certain  pride 
also  in  the  great  name  of  his  master.  At  the  close 
of  a  scholastic  disputation  at  Stirling,  a  certain 
English  doctor  who  was  present  expressed  his 
admiration  at  the  King's  mastery  of  Latin.  "  All 
the  world,  "he  replied,  "knows  that  my  master, 

'  Osborne,  Advice  to  a  Son,  p.  19. 


256 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


George  Buchanan,  was  a  great  master  in  that 
faculty.  I  follow  his  pronunciation  both  of  the 
Latin  and  the  Greek,  and  am  sorry  that  my  people 
of  England  do  not  the  like ;  for  certainly  their 
pronunciation  utterly  spoils  the  grace  of  these  two 
learned  languages.  But  you  see  all  the  university 
and  learned  men  of  Scotland  express  the  true  and 
native  pronunciation  of  both."  ^ 

Of  Buchanan's  bearing  towards  his  pupil  com- 
pared with  that  of  his  assistant  Young,  we  have  an 
interesting  account  in  the  Memoirs  of  Sir  James 
Melville.  Melville  had  been  a  courtier  and  diplo- 
matist all  his  life,  and  was  at  the  opposite  pole  from 
Buchanan  in  character  and  opinions.  His  words 
regarding  Buchanan,  therefore,  must  be  taken  with 
due  reserves.  In  his  account  of  Buchanan  s  inde- 
pendent attitude  towards  his  royal  pupil,  however, 
we  have  seen  that  he  is  borne  out  by  James's  own 
subsequent  testimony.  "  My  Lady  Mar,"  Melville 
writes,  "  was  wise  and  sharp,  and  held  the  King  in 
great  awe  ;  and  so  did  Mr.  George  Buchanan.  Mr. 
Peter  Young  was  more  gentle,  and  was  loath  to 
offend  the  King  at  any  time,  carrying  himself 
warily,  as  a  man  who  had  a  mind  to  his  own 
weal  by  keeping  of  his  Majesty's  favour;^  but 
Mr.  George  was  a  Stoick  philosopher  who  looked 
not  far  before  him.  A  man  of  notable  endowments 
for  his  learning  and  knowledge  of  Latin  poesie,  much 
honoured  in  other  countries,  pleasant  in  conversa- 

1  Craufurd,  History  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  p.  86  (Edin.  1808). 
Ben  Jonson  informed  Druinmond  of  Hawthornden  that  he  had  told 
King  James  "that  his  master  Mr.  George  Buchanan  had  corrupted  his 
ear  when  young,  and  learnt  him  to  sing  verses  when  he  should  have  read 
them". 

As  the  Acts  of  the  Parliament  of  Scotland  show,  Young  reaped 
the  benefits  of  his  complaisance. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


257 


tion,  rehearsing  on  all  occasions  moralities  short  and 
instructive,  whereof  he  had  abundance,  inventing 
where  he  wanted."  The  remainder  of  the  passage 
may  be  given,  though  it  is  not  quite  relevant  : 
He  was  also  religious,  but  was  easily  abused, 
and  so  facile  that  he  was  led  by  every  company 
that  he  haunted,  which  made  him  factious  in  his 
old  days,  for  he  spoke  and  wrote  as  those  who  were 
about  him  informed  him ;  for  he  was  become  care- 
less, following  in  many  things  the  vulgar  opinion ; 
for  he  was  naturally  popular,  and  extremely  re- 
vengeful against  any  man  who  had  offended  him, 
which  was  his  greatest  fault."  With  reference 
to  his  general  bearing  towards  James,  we  have 
already  seen  that  Buchanan  had  a  natural  faculty 
for  engaging  the  affection  and  admiration  of  youth. 
If  therefore  he  showed  himself  somewhat  of  a  hard 
taskmaster  to  James,  we  may  conclude  that  his 
bearing  was  influenced  by  what  he  saw  in  his  pupil's 
character  and  by  the  general  attitude  of  those  who 
attended  on  him.  As  for  Melville's  concluding 
words,  they  must  also  be  set  over-against  the  testi- 
monies of  those  who  understood  Buchanan  better 
than  himself. 

Two  curious  glimpses  into  the  school-room  at 
Stirling  are  given  us  by  two  very  different  observers 
— the  one  by  Killigrew,  Elizabeth's  resident  in 
Scotland,  the  other  by  James  Melville,  nephew  of 
the  famous  Andrew.  Killigrew,  it  appears,  had 
paid  a  special  visit  to  Stirling  to  see  the  young 
King.  James,  he  says,  showed  that  he  had  greatly 
profited  by  the  instructions  of  his  masters,  made 
"  pretty  speeches ",  and  "  translated  a  chapter  of 
the  Bible  from  Latin  into  French,  and  from  French 


258 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


into  English  extempore  His  preceptors  Buchanan 
and  Peter  Young,  he  adds,  made  the  King  dance 
before  him,  which  he  did  "  with  a  very  good  grace". ^ 
James  Melville's  visit  was  made  in  company  with 
his  uncle,  who  wished  to  consult  Buchanan  regard- 
ing the  reforms  he  was  contemplating  in  the  College 
of  Glasgow.  They  found  him  engaged  on  his  History 
of  Scotland.  Regarding  James,  Melville  is  even 
more  enthusiastic  than  Killigrew.  Speaking  of  the 
Kings  performances  before  him  he  says  that  '*it 
was  the  sweetest  sight  in  Europe  that  day  for 
strange  and  extraordinary  gifts  of  ingine,  judgment, 
memory,  and  language  "  I  heard  him  discourse," 
he  adds,  "walking  up  and  down  in  the  auld  Lady 
Marr's  hand,  of  knawledge  and  ignorance  to  my  great 
mar  veil  and  astonishment."  ^  Melville's  wonder  was 
doubtless  none  the  less  great  that  the  youthful 
performer  was  a  king.  Still,  after  every  abatement, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  James  was  something 
of  a  youthful  prodigy  both  in  attainments  and 
quickness  of  mind. 

Two  anecdotes  of  Buchanan's  method  of  dealing 
with  his  pupil  are  related,  which,  though  character- 
istic enough,  do  not  rest  on  very  satisfactory  autho- 
rity. We  give  them  here  for  what  they  are  worth. 
The  young  Earl  of  Mar  had  a  sparrow  which  his 
royal  playmate  greatly  coveted,  and  one  day,  in  a 
struggle  between  them  for  its  possession,  the  sparrow^ 
met  its  end.^  The  affair  was  reported  to  Buchanan, 
who,  lending  James  a  box  on  the  ear,  told  him  that 
"  he  was  himself  a  true  bird  of  the  bloody  nest  to 

^  Calendar  of  State  Papers  (Scotland). 
2  Melville's  Diary. 

^  As  bearing  on  the  truth  of  the  story  it  should  be  said  that  Mar 
was  eight  years  older  than  James. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


259 


which  he  belonged  On  another  occasion  Buchanan 
was  even  more  emphatic.  A  theme  had  just  been  set 
for  James  on  the  conspiracy  at  Lauder  Bridge,  where 
the  Earl  of  Angus  acquired  the  sobriquet  of  Bell- 
the-Cat.  After  dinner  young  Mar  and  the  King 
were  so  noisy  as  to  disturb  Buchanan  at  his  studies. 
He  requested  them  to  be  quiet,  but  the  noise  went 
on  as  before.  Buchanan  then  told  them  that  if  they 
did  not  attend  to  his  words,  he  would  use  a  more 
forcible  reminder.  "  But  who  will  bell  the  cat  ?  " 
asked  the  young  prince.  His  master  at  once  applied 
such  condign  punishment  that  James's  cries  brought 
the  Countess  of  Mar  to  the  spot.  The  Countess 
demanded  of  Buchanan  how  he  dared  to  lay  his 
hands  on  the  Lord's  anointed.  Buchanan's  reply, 
though  quite  in  the  taste  of  the  time,  will  not  bear 
a  modern  rendering.^ 

On  the  authority  of  Buchanan's  nephew  another 
story  is  told  which  has  a  certain  air  of  probability. 
Buchanan,  it  seems,  had  discovered  in  James  an 
undue  facility  in  complying  with  every  request 
that  might  be  made  of  him — a  trait,  it  may  be 
said,  which  signally  showed  itself  in  the  favouritism 
of  his  later  years.  Buchanan  took  the  following 
method  of  correcting  this  weakness.  One  day,  pre- 
senting two  papers  to  James,  he  requested  his  signa- 
ture. After  a  careless  question,  James  did  as  he  was 
desired.  One  of  the  papers  conferred  on  Buchanan 
the  sovereignty  of  the  kingdom  for  fourteen  days. 
He  at  once  assumed  the  part  of  king,  much  to  the 
astonishment  of  James,  who  began  to  think  his 

1  Mackenzie,  Lives  of  Scots  Writers,  vol.  iii.  p.  180.  Mackenzie  is 
always  to  be  taken  with  large  reservations.  He  says,  however,  that  he 
had  the  above  two  anecdotes  from  the  Earl  of  Cromarty,  whose  grand- 
father, Lord  Invertyle,  was  Buchanan's  pupil  along  with  James. 


260 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


master  had  lost  his  wits.  On  asking  an  explana- 
tion, he  was  informed  that  it  was  with  his  own 
consent  that  Buchanan  was  now  king.  James  was 
more  amazed  than  ever,  but  Buchanan,  presenting 
the  document  with  his  own  signature  affixed,  read 
him  a  lecture  on  the  folly  of  his  conduct. 

Was  it  the  fault  of  Buchanan  that  James  grew 
into  the  man  and  king  he  did  ?  Of  all  scholars 
Buchanan  strikes  us  as  the  least  of  a  pedant.  His 
age  was  pre-eminently  the  age  of  pedantry  ;  but  in 
Buchanan,  the  man  is  never  for  a  moment  lost  in 
the  scholar.  In  spite  of  what  we  must  regard  as 
his  essentially  artificial  training,  his  fiery  Celtic 
nature  proclaims  itself  in  every  page  he  wrote,  in 
every  opinion  he  advocated.  In  religion  and  poli- 
tics, also,  he  thought  with  the  most  advanced 
section  of  the  Protestant  party.  It  is  remarkable, 
therefore,  that  in  both  points  his  pupil  should  have 
grown  into  the  very  antithesis  of  himself — in  his 
learning  a  pedant,  in  his  views  of  the  prerogative  of 
kings  an  absolutist.  It  might  be  said,  of  course, 
that  Buchanan  himself  was  too  old  and  James  too 
young  for  the  most  fruitful  relations  of  master  and 
pupil.  Still,  in  the  case  of  one  of  Buchanan's  varied 
experience,  individuality  of  character,  and  natural 
sympathy  with  the  young,  we  might  have  expected 
that  he  would  have  left  some  mark  of  himself  even 
on  the  narrow  and  perverse  mind  of  James.  The 
case  of  Fenelon  and  the  young  Duke  of  Burgundy 
naturally  occurs  to  us  in  connection  with  Buchanan 
and  James.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Fenelon, 
by  sheer  tact  and  sympathetic  insight,  transformed 
the  Duke  from  something  very  like  a  wild  beast 
into  a  prince  with  the  highest  consciousness  of 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


261 


duty  and  the  humanest  of  tempers.  Fenelon  had 
undoubtedly  the  advantage  of  Buchanan  in  setting 
about  his  task  when  his  own  powers  of  body  and 
mind  were  at  their  best.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
might  seem  from  what  we  read  of  the  inhuman 
ferocity  and  vicious  propensities  of  the  Duke,  that 
Fenelon  had  the  more  difficult  subject  to  deal  with. 
But  Fenelon  himself  did  not  think  so.  "  Lively 
and  sensitive  natures,"  he  says,  ''are  capable  of 
going  far  astray ;  passion  and  presumption  drag 
them  on ;  but  such  natures  have  likewise  great 
resources,  and  often  make  recovery  when  they  seem 
to  have  gone  furthest  astray."  In  truth,  no  charac- 
ter is  less  easily  moulded  than  such  as  we  know 
James's  to  have  been.  He  had  by  nature  that 
pragmatical  self-conceit  which  is  as  triple  brass 
against  the  influence  of  other  minds.  Of  spon- 
taneity, of  self-abandonment,  of,  in  short,  what  we 
call  essentially  qualities  of  soul,  James  was  utterly 
destitute  ;  and  it  is  precisely  in  such  qualities  that 
the  teacher  finds  the  springs  by  which  he  directs, 
transforms,  and  elevates  his  pupil's  nature. 

Buchanan's  position  as  tutor  to  the  young  King 
gave  him  a  real  political  importance  in  the  eyes 
of  his  contemporaries.  During  these  years  the 
struggle  between  the  Protestant  and  the  Catholic 
powers  of  Europe  was  passing  through  its  sternest 
crisis ;  and  it  was  matter  of  momentous  concern  to 
both  on  which  side  James  should  eventually  take 
his  place.  In  a  few  years  he  would  possibly  be 
King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  according 
as  he  made  his  choice  it  seemed  that  the  balance 
would  be  turned.  With  Buchanan  at  the  young 
King's  ear,  the  Protestants  naturally  hoped  that  he 


262  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

would  imbibe  notions  on  religion  and  politics  very 
different  from  those  of  his  mother.     From  many  of 
the  leading  Protestants,  therefore,  Buchanan  re- 
ceived letters  emphasising  the  responsibility  of  his 
position,  and  pointing  out  the  vital  importance  of 
James's  future  decision.    A  few  of  these  letters 
have  been  preserved,  and  they  plainly  show  the 
anxiety  with  which  the  situation  was  regarded. 
Among  them  is  one  from  Philip  de  Mornay,^  the 
devoted  servant  of  Henry  of  Navarre.    Henry  had 
intrusted  Mornay  with  a  letter  to  Buchanan,  in 
which  he  called  upon  him  to  do  what  lay  in  his 
power  to  make  the  young  King  think  well  of  him. 
Mornay,  however,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
pirates,  and  the  letter  was  lost.     He  therefore 
communicates  to  Buchanan  what  he  knew  to  be  the 
purport  of  Henry's  message.     It  is  of  the  highest 
importance,  he  says,  that  there  should  be  an  under- 
standing between  Henry  and  the  Scottish  king. 
At  that  moment  (he  is  writing  in  1577)  it  seemed 
as  if  "  all  the  Christian  kingdoms  of  the  world  were 
going  headlong  to  destruction,  and  that  impiety 
and  tyranny  must  overrun  the  earth  ".    Unless  he 
is  deceived,  however,  Buchanan  is  educating  a  new 
Constantino  to  save  the  world.     It  were  in  the 
fitness  of  things,  he  adds,  that  the  same  region 
which  produced  the  world's  first  deliverer  should 
also  produce  the  second.    From  another  Huguenot, 
Lema^on  de  la  Fonteine,  there  are  two  letters  in 
French,  urging  Buchanan  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
bring  about  a  marriage  between  James  and  the 
sister  of  Henry  of  Navarre.     Scholars  also,  Beza 
among  the  rest,  send  him  their  latest  books  as  pro- 

1  Duplessis-Mornay. 


TUTOR  TO  KING  JAMES. 


263 


pitiatory  offerings  to  the  young  King.  With  Beza 
Buchanan  had  begun  a  friendship  in  France  many 
years  before — probably  in  Paris  after  Buchanan  had 
left  Bordeaux.  Both  had  evidently  the  highest 
esteem  for  each  other;  but  what  is  interesting  to 
note  is  that  Beza,  since  Calvin^s  death  the  most 
distinguished  Protestant  divine  in  Europe,  writes 
to  Buchanan  as  an  acknowledged  superior,  and  dis 
tinctly  recognises  him  as  of  a  genius  higher  than 
his  own. 

Along  with  Peter  Young,  Buchanan  was  twice 
(in  1572  and  1578)  confirmed  by  decree  of  the 
Privy  Council  in  his  office  as  *'maister"  to  the 
King.^  The  fall  of  Morton  in  1578,  which  put  a 
temporary  end  to  the  Regency,  practically  emanci- 
pated James  from  his  tutors.  Till  his  own  death 
in  1582,  however,  Buchanan  still  nominally  held 
his  post.  In  his  Testament-dative  he  is  described 
as  "  preceptour  to  ye  Kingis  majestye  the  tyme  of 
his  deceis  "  ;  but  his  charge  over  James  must  prac- 
tically have  ceased  two  or  three  years  earlier. 

Besides  his  post  as  tutor  to  James,  Buchanan 
during  his  last  years  held  other  appointments, 
which  must  have  given  him  at  least  a  certain  social 
status  in  his  day.  The  election  of  Lennox  as 
Moray's  successor  in  the  regency  was,  of  course, 
favourable  to  Buchanan's  fortunes.  During  Len- 
nox's brief  rule  he  was  first  made  Director  of 
Chancery,  and  afterwards  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal, 
an  office  which  he  held  till  1578.  As  Keeper  of 
the  Privy  Seal  he  was  entitled  to  a  seat  in  Parha- 
ment,  a  privilege  of  w^hich  he  seems  to  have  availed 
himself    As  member  he  served  on  one  Commission 

^  Privy  Council  Kecords. 


264 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


which,  had  it  effected  its  object,  would  have  kept 
green  the  memory  of  himself  and  his  fellow-com- 
missioners. The  object  of  the  Commission  was  to 
mak  ane  body  of  the  civile  and  municipale  lawis, 
devidit  in  heidis  conforme  to  the  fassone  of  the  law 
Eomane,  and  the  heidis  as  thai  ar  reddy  to  be 
brocht  to  the  Parliament  to  be  confirmit  ".^  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  the  Commission  proved  an 
abortive  one.  While  he  was  thus  both  "maister" 
to  the  King  and  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal,  Buchan- 
an would  seem  to  have  been  no  easier  in  money 
matters  than  formerly.  The  following  epigram  to 
Lennox  both  suggests  this,  and  shows  the  familiar 
terms  on  which  he  stood  with  that  nobleman  : — 

Ad  Matthaeum  Leviniae  Comitem,  Scotiae  Proregem. 

Cum  mihi  quod  donem  nil  sit,  tibi  resque  supersit, 

Accipe,  cui  dones  ofiiciosus  opes. 
Non  ego  sum  nimius  voti  :  ex  tanto  aeris  acervo 

Sufficient  animo  millia  pauca  meo. 
Denique  da  quidvis,  podagram  modo  deprecor  unam  : 

Munus  erit  medicis  aptius  ilia  suis  (tuis  ?).^ 

"  Since  I  am  poor  and  you  are  rich, 

What  happy  chance  is  thine  ! 
My  modest  wishes,  too,  you  know — 

One  nugget  from  your  mine  ! 
Only,  whatever  be  your  gift, 

Let  it  not  be  your  gout  : 
That,  a  meet  present  for  your  leech, 

I 'd  rather  go  without." 

Lennox  was  succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Mar  in 
September  1571.  Of  Mar  Buchanan  speaks  with 
the  highest  respect,  and  in  this  good  opinion  he  is 
supported  by  men  of  all  parties  in  the  State.  Mar 
was  Governor  of  Stirling  Castle,  and  hereditary 
guardian  of  the  King,  so  that  Buchanan  in  his 

1  Ads  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  p.  40. 
Epig.  iii.  19. 


PUBLIC  LIFE. 


265 


duties  as  tutor  to  James  must  have  seen  much  of 
him.  The  new  Regent  died  after  little  more  than  a 
year  s  tenure  of  office.  In  a  short  poem,  Buchanan 
commemorated  his  virtues,  and  in  a  strain  which  is 
not  that  of  mere  conventional  panegyric.  The 
truth  of  the  last  two  lines  is  borne  out  by  other 
testimony  besides  Buchanan's.  This,"  he  says, 
is  peculiar  to  himself,  that  in  the  course  of  a  long 
life,  envy  and  hatred  have  no  charge  with  which  to 
reproach  him."  ^ 

Mar  was  followed  in  the  regency  by  the  Earl  of 
Morton,  a  man  of  far  more  masterful  character,  but 
unscrupulous  even  for  that  age  in  his  dealings  with 
his  enemies.  To  Morton  Buchanan  was  not  so 
favourably  disposed  as  to  the  three  previous  Re- 
gents. With  the  religious  party  to  which  he  be- 
longed, he  disapproved  of  Morton's  attitude  towards 
the  Church.  But  his  chief  ground  of  opposition 
was  the  Regent's  persistent  attempts  to  gain  pos- 
session of  the  King.  It  was,  indeed,  mainly  by  the 
advice  of  Buchanan,  and  Alexander  Erskine,  the 
Governor  of  Stirling  Castle,  that  James  was  induced 
to  support  the  party  opposed  to  Morton,  which 
brought  about  his  temporary  abdication  in  March 
1578.^  A  council  of  twelve  was  then  formed  for 
the  direction  of  the  King,  Buchanan  being  one  of 
its  extraordinary  members.  The  council  was  of 
short  duration,  as  by  April  of  the  same  year  Morton 
was  again  in  power.  During  Morton's  second 
regency  Buchanan  still  continued  in  the  Privy 

1  Miscell.  XXV.  Knox  was  of  a  different  opinion. — History,  vol.  ii. 
p.  128. 

2  So  at  least  says  Sir  James  Melville  :  "  Be  whais  [Buchanan's]  advyse 
and  counsaill  his  majeste  was  easely  movit  to  depoise  the  Kegent  out  of 
his  office." 


266  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

Council,  though  in  1578  he  had  resigned  the  Seal 
to  his  nephew,  Thomas  Buchanan.  Of  the  two 
Councils  which  met  in  Morton's  second  regency, 
Buchanan  occasionally  attended  the  first,  but  at  the 
second  he  seems  never  to  have  appeared.  In  the 
first  Council,  Buchanan,  assisted  by  Peter  Young, 
acted  as  interim  secretary  during  the  absence  of  the 
Commendator  of  Dunfermline  on  an  embassy  to 
England.^ 

During  this  period  of  Scottish  history  the  agents 
of  Elizabeth  were  especially  busy  in  Scotland,  her 
policy  being  to  make  sure  of  a  strong  party  in  that 
country  which  she  could  always  have  at  her  dis- 
posal. With  this  in  view  her  agents  kept  Cecil 
informed  as  to  the  persons  upon  whose  support  she 
could  count,  or  whose  support  it  was  politic  to  gain. 
In  July  1578  two  lists  were  transmitted  to  Cecil, 
one  containing  the  names  of  Biencontents,  the  other 
those  of  Malcontents.  In  the  latter,  Buchanan's 
name  appears  with  the  explanatory  addition  that  he 
is  a  Malcontent  "in  respect  of  the  Erie  Mortons 
cominge  againe  into  the  king's  favour".^'  The  follow- 
ing year  Cecil  had  three  other  lists  sent  to  him,  the 
first,  "  of  persons  who  were  commended  by  the  Earl 
of  Morton,  when  he  was  Begent,  as  most  meet  to 
be  entertained  "  ;  the  second,  "  of  persons  who  were 
also  fit  to  have  entertainment,  though  they  were  not 
recommended  by,  the  Begent "  ;  and  the  third,  "  of 
persons  who  were  not  commended  by  the  Begent,  yet 
by  others  thought  meet  to  be  entertained  ".  In  the 
last  list  appear  the  names  of  "  Mr.  George  Buchanan, 
a  singular  man",  and  of  Peter  Young,  "  another  tutor 

1  Privy  Council  Kecords. 

^  Chalmers,  Life  of  Rucldiman,  p.  340. 


PUBLIC  LIFE. 


267 


to  the  King,  specially  well  affected,  and  ready  to  per- 
suade the  King  to  be  in  favour  of  her  majesty e  In 
still  another  list  are  to  be  found  "  the  names  of  such 
as  are  to  be  entertained  in  Scotland  by  pensions  out 
of  England".  In  this  list  there  are  twenty-four 
names  in  all,  the  names  of  the  Regent  Morton  and 
six  earls  coming  first.  Opposite  Morton's  name  is 
placed  the  sum  of  £500  ;  against  those  of  the  earls, 
in  some  cases  £200,  and  in  others  £100.  Oppo- 
site Buchanan's  name  is  placed  £100,  and  opposite 
that  of  Peter  Young  £30."  The  list  has  a  certain 
interest,  as  showing  Buchanan's  relative  political 
importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  astute  agents  of 
Elizabeth.  Whether  the  pensions  were  actually  paid, 
or  whether  the  intended  beneficiaries  even  knew  of 
these  purposes  in  their  favour,  we  have  no  means  of 
knowing.  But  even  had  Buchanan  accepted  such  a 
pension,  it  would  be  absurd  to  consider  it  any  serious 
blot  on  his  scutcheon.  The  habit  of  receiving 
pecuniary  assistance  from  England  had,  in  fact, 
during  the  sixteenth  century  become  an  accepted 
condition  of  public  life  in  Scotland. 

From  these  notices  it  will  be  seen  that  Buchanan 
was  not  among  the  leading  political  figures  of  his 
time.  This  is  indeed  conclusively  shown  by  the  place 
he  occupies  in  the  later  Histories  of  Scotland.  While 
the  names  of  Knox  and  Andrew  Melville  are  written 
large  in  all  these  Histories,  that  of  Buchanan  but 
rarely  occurs,  and  then  only  as  that  of  a  mere  public 
servant.  At  no  time  of  his  life,  as  we  believe,  were 
the  instincts  of  Buchanan  those  of  the  practical 
politician ;  but  even  had  he  possessed  these  instincts, 

1  Chalmers,  Life  of  Ruclcliman,  p.  342. 

2  Ihid.  p.  343. 


268 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  advanced  age  at  which  he  returned  to  Scotland, 
as  well  as  his  chronic  ill-health,  must  have  debarred 
him  from  taking  a  prominent  part  in  public  alFairs. 
In  the  religious  strifes  of  his  last  years,  the  struggle 
between  Presbytery  and  Episcopacy,  he  seems  to 
have  taken  no  part.  But  the  same  reasons  which 
debarred  him  from  politics  sufficiently  account  for 
his  not  taking  his  stand  either  with  or  against 
Andrew  Melville.^ 

1  That  his  sympathies  were  with  Melville,  however,  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  though  he  would  certainly  have  disapproved  of  much  that 
Melville  said  and  did.  In  his  History  he  has  the  following  passage 
regarding  bishops  :  "  Creditur  idem  Palladius  primus  Episcopos  in  Scotia 
creasse.  Nam  ad  id  usque  tempus,  Ecclesiae  absque  Episcopis  per 
monachos  regebantur,  minore  quidem  cum  fastu  et  externa  pompa,  sed 
majore  simplicitate  et  sanctimonia." — Ber.  Scot.  Hist.  lib.  v.  p.  79. 


CHAPTER  XYIL 


Buchanan's  political  opinions — the  de  jure 
reoni  apud  scotos. 

By  his  dialogue  De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos  (Con- 
cerning the  Rights  of  the  Crown  in  Scotland) 
Buchanan  holds  a  distinct  place  in  the  development 
of  political  thought  in  Britain.  The  dialogue  is 
far  indeed  from  being  a  material  contribution  to  the 
subject  it  professes  to  discuss,  yet  its  history  con- 
clusively proves  that  till  the  Be  volution  of  1688  its 
influence  was  seriously  dreaded  by  the  successive 
Governments  of  the  country.  In  1584,  five  years 
after  its  publication,  and  two  years  after  Buchanan's 
death,  this  dialogue  and  his  History  of  Scotland 
were  condemned  by  Act  of  Parliament,  and  every 
person  possessing  copies  commanded  to  produce 
them  within  forty  days,  that  they  might  be  purged 
of  the  oflensive  and  extraordinary  matters  "  they 
contained.-^  In  1664  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland 
issued  a  proclamation  prohibiting  all  subjects  from 
translating  and  circulating  copies  of  a  manuscript 
translation  of  the  dialogue,  and  in  1688  this  order 
was  repeated.^   In  1683,  also,  the  University  of 

1  Ads  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  p.  296. 

2  Wodrow,  Hist,  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  vol.  i. 
p.  218.    Edin.  1721-2,  two  vols.  fol. 

269 


270 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Oxford  publicly  burned  the  political  works  of 
Buchanan,  Milton,  Languet,  and  other  writers  of 
their  way  of  thinking.^  These  public  censures  suffi- 
ciently prove  the  importance  of  Buchanan's  tract  in 
the  clash  of  political  strife  during  the  century  that 
followed  his  death.  During  that  century  his  repu- 
tation seems  to  have  increased  rather  than  dimi- 
nished. His  word,  therefore,  as  that  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  British  scholars,  could  not  be  slighted 
even  by  the  most  distinguished  supporters  of  the 
royal  prerogative.  Moreover,  the  dialogue  itself, 
though  of  little  value  as  a  political  treatise,  yet  by 
the  elegance  and  force  of  its  Latin  style  was  well 
fitted  to  win  readers  in  an  age  when  Latin  was 
still  the  language  of  learned  discussion. 

Immediately  on  its  publication  it  was  assailed 
by  writers  of  the  opposite  school  from  Buchanan  ; 
and  we  may  say  that  till  the  Bevolution  of  1688 
the  attacks  on  Buchanan's  motives  and  opinions 
grew  rather  more  than  less  bitter.  In  his  own 
country  the  controversy  was  carried  on  into  the 
following  century  with  even  increased  asperity,  his 
opponents  seriously  maintaining  that  it  was  impos- 
sible he  could  have  been  an  honest  man  and  have 
advocated  the  political  opinions  he  did.^  These 
opinions,  they  said,  were,  in  the  first  place,  new  to 
Scotland ;  secondly,  they  were  false ;  and  lastly, 
they  were  brought  forward  simply  to  justify  the 
unconstitutional  proceedings  against  Mary.  With 

'  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  261  note. 

^  Kuddiman,  in  his  later  years,  and  after  the  failure  of  the  '45,  was 
unsparing  in  his  denunciation  of  the  man  whose  works  he  had  edited. 
Chalmers,  also,  in  his  Life  of  Buddiman  (1794),  leaves  the  humanists 
themselves  behind  in  the  scurrility  of  his  abuse.  But,  like  Kuddiman 
(though  out  of  due  time),  he  was  likewise  a  rabid  Jacobite. 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


271 


the  knowledge  we  now  possess  of  the  development 
of  political  ideas  in  Europe  we  see  that  such 
controversies  are  entirely  beside  the  mark.  By  his 
natural  affinities,  and  by  every  condition  of  his  life 
and  training,  it  was  impossible  that  Buchanan  in 
the  sixteenth  century  could  have  adopted  other 
political  theories  than  he  did. 

Buchanan's  main  positions  in  the  De  Jure  Regni 
are,  that  kings  exist  by  the  will  and  for  the  good  of 
the  people,  that  they  may  be  brought  to  account 
for  misgovernment,  and  that  under  certain  circum- 
stances tyrannicide  is  justifiable.  But  before  giving 
a  more  detailed  account  of  the  dialogue,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  we  should  mark  the  conditions  out  of 
which  it  sprang.  Humanism  had  undoubtedly  its 
own  influence  in  this  as  in  every  other  of  Buchanan's 
productions ;  but  other  currents  meet  in  the  De 
Jure  Regni,  which  distinctly  stamp  it  as  a  typical 
product  of  the  time. 

Among  the  ideas  the  humanists  had  gained  from 
the  study  of  antiquity  was  that  of  the  paramount 
importance  of  liberty  to  the  true  growth  and 
happiness  of  men.  The  passages  they  admired 
above  all  others  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers  were 
those  which  proclaim  the  dignity  of  free  citizenship 
and  denounce  the  evils  of  tyranny.  Their  favourite 
heroes  were  such  characters  as  Brutus  and  Timoleon, 
whom  they  extolled  as  personages  a  country  should 
rejoice  to  have  produced.  Much  of  the  rhetoric  of  the 
humanists  on  this  subject  was  doubtless  the  mere 
echo  of  the  writers  they  admired,  yet  the  political 
conditions  of  their  own  day  gave  the  reality  of 
striking  contrast  to  the  tradition  of  the  ancient 
republics.    It  was  in  large  measure  the  sugges- 


272         THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

tion  of  this  contrast  that  inspired  the  biting 
sarcasms  of  Erasmus  at  the  expense  of  contemporary 
princes. 

But,  independently  of  humanism,  medieval 
Europe  bequeathed  its  own  legacy  of  opinion  as  to 
the  claims  of  the  people  and  the  prerogatives  of 
princes.  From  the  rise  of  the  various  Christian 
powers  in  Western  Europe  this  subject  engaged  the 
best  minds  of  each  successive  generation.  The 
opinion  which  all  along  had  the  approval  of  the 
Church  was  that  all  power  comes  from  God,  and 
that  as  the  Pope  was  God's  vicegerent,  supremacy 
over  kings  of  necessity  pertains  to  the  Church, 
which  alone  had  the  power  to  loosen  the  bonds  of 
allegiance.  This  twofold  conception  of  the  sanctity 
of  kings  and  their  responsibility  to  God  alone — 
that  is,  to  the  Church  as  God's  representative — is 
expressed  with  great  clearness  as  early  as  the  sixth 
century  in  an  address  by  Gregory  of  Tours  to  King 
Chilperic.  0  king,"  he  says,  "  if  any  one  of  us 
should  desire  to  stray  from  the  path  of  justice,  thou 
canst  correct  us  ;  but  if  thou  shouldst  go  astray, 
who  will  arraign  thee  ?  We  address  ourselves  to 
thee,  it  is  true ;  but  thou  hearkenest  only  if  thou 
wilt.  Against  thy  will  who  will  condemn  thee, 
unless  it  be  He  who  is  justice  itself  ? "  This  was 
the  view  approved  by  the  Church,  and  received  by 
men  so  little  subservient  to  authority  as  Gregory ; 
but  an  unbroken  line  of  thinkers  did  not  hesitate 
to  assert  that  the  people  is  the  source  of  all  kingly 
power,  and  that  princes  exist  solely  by  the  will  and 
for  the  good  of  their  subjects.  It  is  the  essence 
of  the  Christian  doctrine  that  it  gives  the  indivi- 
dual a  dignity  and  importance  he  never  had  under 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


27  a 


Paganism.  That  a  whole  people,  therefore,  should 
submit  to  one  arbitrary  will,  implied  the  forfeiture 
of  all  that  raises  man  above  the  beasts.  A  few 
quotations  will  show  how  strongly  these  views  were 
held  by  many  of  the  most  distinguished  teachers 
of  the  Middle  Ages.^ 

Kings  are  called  kings,"  says  Isidore  of  Seville 
in  the  sixth  century,  "  because  they  do  well.  They 
retain  the  name  so  long  as  they  act  rightly ;  when 
they  act  amiss,  they  lose  it."  ^  In  the  eighth  century 
a  certain  bishop  of  Verona  declared  "  that  all  men 
are  naturally  equal,  and  that  men  ought  not  to 
recognise  inequality,  which  has  often  the  result  of 
placing  the  best  under  the  dominion  of  the  worst 
In  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  free  notions 
regarding  the  divine  origin  of  kings  seem  not  to 
have  been  uncommon.  "I  know  some  persons 
among  our  contemporaries,"  says  a  writer  of  that 
century,  "  who  believe  that  royalty  has  its  origin, 
not  from  God,  but  from  men  ignorant  of  God, 
accustomed  to  hve  by  plunder,  treasons,  and 
murders — covered,  in  short,  with  every  kind  of 
crime,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  world  had,  by 
the  inspiration  of  the  devil,  the  blind  ambition  and 
the  unspeakable  temerity  to  lord  it  over  other  men 
who  were  their  equals."  In  the  twelfth  century 
John  of  Salisbury  speaks  in  words  that  might  pass 
for  Buchanan's  :  "  When  he  is  the  true  image  of  God, 
the  king  should  be  loved,  honoured,  obeyed  ;  when  he 
is  the  image  of  all  that  is  evil,  he  should  in  most 

1  For  the  quotations  in  the  following  paragraph  I  am  indebted  to  a 
singularly  interesting  paper  {La  Eoyaute  frangaise  et  le  Droit  populaire 
d'apres  les  Ecrivains  du  Moijen  Age)  in  M.  Jourdain's  Excursions 
historiques  et  philosophiques  a  tr avers  le  Moyen  Age. 

2  "  Reges  a  recte  agendo  vocati  sunt,  ideoque  recte  faciendo,  regis 
nomen  tenetur,  peccando  amittitur," 

S 


274 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


cases  be  put  to  death."  ^  In  the  thirteenth  century 
Thomas  Aquinas  taught  that  the  end  of  government 
is  the  good  of  the  community,  that  governments  are 
not  instituted  for  the  personal  satisfaction  of  those 
who  are  at  their  head,  but  for  pubhc  utihty,  that 
kings  are  the  shepherds  of  their  people,  and  that  a 
good  shepherd  thinks  before  everything  of  the  good 
of  his  flock.  Duns  Scotus,  however,  goes  much 
further  than  this,  and  boldly  represents  the  people 
as  the  sole  source  of  political  power.  In  a  treatise 
written  about  the  year  1324  by  Marsilius  of  Padua, 
the  rights  of  the  people  are  emphasised  with  a  bold- 
ness and  clearness  that  might  have  satisfied  Knox 
and  Buchanan  themselves.  One  sentence  will  show 
the  length  to  which  this  writer,  who  at  one  time 
was  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris,  was  prepared 
to  go.  "  Est  enim  multitudo  dominus  major."  "  Of 
people  and  prince,  the  former  is  the  superior  power. " 
One  quotation  more  may  be  given,  and  it  is  the 
most  remarkable  of  all.  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  from  whom  the  quotation  is 
taken,  was  one  of  the  most  notable  figures  in  the 
intellectual  world  of  his  day ;  and  from  him,  per- 
haps, more  than  any  other,  John  Major  learned 
the  political  opinions  which  have  gained  for  him  the 
name  of  "  the  first  Scottish  radical  ".^  "  If  kings," 
says  Gerson,  "  fail  in  their  duty  towards  their  sub- 
jects, if  they  conduct  themselves  unjustly,  above  all 
if  they  persist  in  their  misgovernment — this  is 
exactly  a  case  for  applying  the  law  of  justice,  that 
it  is  permissible  to  repel  force  by  force.    Has  not 

1  "  Imago  deitatis  princeps  amandus,  venerandus  est  et  colendus  ; 
tyrannus,  pravitatis  imago,  plerumque  etiam  occidendiis." 
^  The  phrase  is  Professor  Masson's. 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


275 


Seneca  said  that  there  can  be  no  more  acceptable 
sacrifice  to  God  than  a  tyrant  ?  "  Neither  Buchanan 
nor  Milton  went  beyond  this.^ 

These  citations  conclusively  prove  that  it  was 
not  left  to  the  humanists  to  make  known  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  free  States  are  based.  Before  the 
sixteenth  century  it  is  clear  that  educated  men  were 
perfectly  familiar  with  doctrines  that  afterwards 
came  to  be  identified  with  the  Huguenots  of  France 
and  the  Puritans  of  England.  How  widespread 
these  doctrines  were,  is  signally  proved  by  the 
speech,  so  often  quoted,  of  Philippe  Pot  before  the 
French  States -General  in  1484  :  "  As  history  relates, 
and  as  I  have  heard  from  my  fathers,  it  was  the 
people  who  first  created  kings  by  their  suffrage, 
specially  preferring  men  who  surpassed  others  in 
virtue  and  capacity.  Each  people  chose  a  king  for 
his  usefulness." 

But  these  bold  notions  as  to  the  inherent  right 
of  a  people  to  govern  itself,  of  necessity  remained 
simple  theory  till  the  sixteenth  century.  So  long 
as  the  Western  nations  owned  universal  allegiance 
to  the  Pope,  the  fundamental  principles  on  which 
society  rests  could  never  be  the  subject  of  practical 
discussion.  For  the  mass  of  the  people  the  king  and 
his  prerogative  made  as  much  a  part  of  the  system 
of  nature  as  the  sun  and  the  moon.  The  fiery  spirits 
who  led  the  great  Protestant  schism  were  made  to 
feel  that  this  habit  of  mind,  produced  by  centuries  of 
unquestioning  submission  to  authority,  could  not  be 
transformed  in  a  day.^    But  it  was  the  sixteenth 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  Milton  translates  Seneca's  verse  and 
thus  stamps  it  with  his  approval. 

^  In  the  present  age  the  following  sentences  from  Buchanan's  De  Jure 
Begni  strike  us  somewhat  oddly  :  "  Reliqua  est  imperita  multitude, 


276  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


century  that  converted  these  theoretical  discussions 
into  burning  questions  of  conduct  and  policy.  This 
fact  may,  of  course,  be  broadly  set  down  as  the 
result  of  the  generally  awakened  intelligence  of 
Europe ;  yet  a  few  special  causes  stand  out  as  so 
powerfully  operative  that  they  deserve  particular 
mention. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
there  had  been  a  rapid  movement  towards  absolute 
power  on  the  part  of  all  the  great  princes  of  Europe. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  this  tendency  still  con- 
tinued, and  an  actual  rivalry  arose  between  the 
rulers  of  the  various  countries  as  to  which  could 
most  completely  override  the  will  of  his  people/ 
The  Prince  of  Machiavelli  reduced  to  a  system  the 
means  by  which  a  ruler  might  attain  the  end  at 
which  all  were  aiming.  Such  men  as  Erasmus  and 
More,  inspired  alike  by  the  Christian  and  the  classical 
tradition,  had,  before  the  publication  of  The  Prince, 
given  the  most  forcible  expression  to  their  views  of 
the  duties  of  kings  to  their  subjects.  But  the 
appearance  of  The  Prince  still  further  excited  the 
alarm  and  indignation  of  thinking  men  throughout 
Europe.  The  fame  of  Machiavelli's  book  is  proved  by 
the  numberless  references  to  it  in  the  writings  of  the 
century.  But  the  most  significant  tribute  to  the 
widespread  alarm  it  produced  is  the  fact  that  Bodin 
wrote  his  great  work  De  Repuhlicd  expressly  to 
counteract  its  teaching.^    It  may  be  taken  also  as  a 

quae  omnia  nova  miratur,  plurima  reprehendit,  neque  quicquam  rectum 
putat,  nisi  quod  ipsa  aut  facit,  aut  fieri  videt.  Quantum  enira  a  con- 
suetudine  majorum  receditur,  tantum  a  justo  et  aequo  recedi  putat." 

1  During  his  visit  to  Francis  i.  in  1539,  Charles  v.  expressed  his 
admiration  and  envy  at  the  French  king's  control  over  his  people. 

2  "Peu  d'ecrivains  out  exerce  une  action  plus  directe  [than  Machia- 
velli], plus  profonde  sur  les  homnies  et  sur  les  ev^nements.  C'est  a  le 
combattre  que  nous  verrons  s'appliquer  Bodin." — Baudrillart,  J.  Bodin 
et  son  Temps  (Paris,  1853),  p.  17. 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


277 


curious  proof  how  wide  and  deep  the  evil  repute  of 
Machiavelli  had  gone,  that  his  name,  corrupted  into 
Mitchell  Wylie,  was  in  Scotland  applied  to  Maitland 
of  Lethington.^ 

But  it  was  the  great  Protestant  revolt  from 
Rome  that  brought  to  direct  issue  the  question  of 
the  mutual  relations  of  king  and  people.  From 
the  very  beginning  of  that  revolt  it  was  felt  on 
both  sides  that  the  old  relations  could  no  longer 
hold  if  Luther  should  succeed.  It  was  therefore 
the  policy  of  the  supporters  of  Rome  to  hold  out 
the  constant  threat  that  Lutheranism  meant  not 
only  defection  from  the  Church  but  universal 
anarchy.  The  excesses  of  Anabaptism  and  the 
Peasants'  War  gave  them  as  strong  a  case  as  they 
could  have  wished  ;  and  in  France  especially,  during 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  dread  of 
a  social  cataclysm  undoubtedly  did  much  to  arrest 
the  movement  towards  reform. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  reformers  themselves  had 
equally  soon  to  recognise  the  new  position  in  which,  as 
subjects,  their  defection  from  Rome  had  placed  them. 
In  a  country  where,  being  in  a  minority,  their  re- 
ligious views  should  not  be  tolerated;  or  where, being 
in  a  majority,  the  ruler  should  interfere  with  the  duty 
they  owed  to  God — what  in  either  of  these  cases  was 
the  line  of  conduct  they  ought  to  pursue  ?  The 
leaders  of  the  Protestant  party  fully  realised  the 
gravity  of  their  position.  The  charge  of  extreme 
counsels  has  been  so  constantly  brought  against  them, 
that  the  following  testimony  of  de  THopital  to 

^  The  name  Mitchell  Wylie  appears  in  the  Memorials  of  Knox's 
servant,  Kichard  Bannatyne.  Wylie,  of  course,  is  wily.  There  is 
frequent  reference  to  Machiavelli  in  the  Scots  vernacular  literature  of 
the  time. 


278  THE  LIFE  OF  GEOKGE  BUCHANAN. 


their  moderation  will  surprise  many.  "  Among  all 
those,"  says  this  very  highest  authority,  "  who  have 
gone  over  to  Protestantism,  there  is  not  one  who 
wishes  to  unsettle  the  supremacy  of  the  king ;  for 
this  is  manifestly  against  the  principles  of  their 
religion."  ^  That  this  could  be  said  of  the  Hugue- 
nots after  the  civil  war,  and  after  St.  Bartholomew, 
is  certainly  a  singular  tribute  to  their  great  legislator 
Calvin. 

In  Germany,  the  political  question  was  not  thrust 
on  the  Reformers  in  the  direct  and  critical  form  it 
took  in  France  and  Scotland.  Luther  had  to  face 
the  orgies  of  Anabaptism  and  the  revolt  of  the 
peasants  as  the  result  of  his  breach  with  Rome ;  but 
neither  of  these  cases  necessitated  a  full  and  precise 
definition  of  the  relations  of  ruler  and  subject. 
As  Ranke  has  said  :  "In  Germany  the  Protestant 
churches  were  founded  under  the  protection,  the 
immediate  influence,  of  the  reigning  authorities,  and 
their  form  was  naturally  determined  by  that  circum- 
stance." 

In  France,  however,  the  new  opinions  had  to 
create  for  themselves  a  set  of  conditions  for  which 
no  provision  had  hitherto  been  made  in  any  Christian 
State.  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  those  who 
held  these  opinions  claimed  not  only  sufferance, 
but  the  liberty  of  propagandism.  How  to  provide 
this  liberty  and  yet  not  seriously  endanger  the 
central  authority  of  the  State  was  the  delicate 
question  which  Calvin  had  to  solve  in  his  Institutes 
of  the  Christian  Religion.  That  he  did  not  solve  it 
is  simply  to  say  that  a  people  cannot  be  fitted  with 
a  ready-made  constitution,  but  must  grow  into  it 

^  Baudrillart,  J.  Bodin  et  son  Temps,  p.  67. 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


279 


by  a  natural  process  of  adaptation.  It  was  not  till 
after  three  centuries  that  the  question  which  en- 
gaged Calvin  settled  itself  by  the  unconscious  growth 
of  educated  opinion.  Calvin  taught  that  under  no 
circumstances — always  excepting  where  his  religious 
faith  was  concerned — was  the  individual  citizen  jus- 
tified in  resisting  his.  prince.  The  advisers  of  the 
prince,  however,  and  any  representative  body  in  the 
State,  Calvin  did  not  forbid  from  withstanding  the 
tyrannical  exercise  of  authority.^  It  is  evident  that 
this  position  completely  covers  the  entire  policy  of 
the  Protestant  party  in  Scotland  in  their  proceed- 
ings against  Mary.  As  the  religious  struggle  grew 
fiercer,  and  at  the  same  time  more  equal,  the  followers 
of  Calvin  were  forced  into  bolder  statements  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  against  tyrants ;  yet  in  the 
most  extreme  statements  of  their  views  they  never 
forgot  that  obedience  to  the  State  is  incumbent  on 
every  man  professing  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ. 

Calvin's  Institutes  appeared  in  1535  ;  but  as  the 
century  went  on,  the  great  question  of  the  true 
limits  of  the  allegiance  of  the  subject  became  more 
and  more  pressing,  and  more  and  more  difficult 
of  satisfactory  definition.  In  France,  the  horrible 
treatment  of  Bordeaux  by  the  Constable  Mont- 
morency for  its  refusal  to  pay  the  gahelle,  gave  a 
formidable  impulse  to  free  opinions  regarding  the 

^  "  Neque  eniin,  si  ultio  Domini  est  effrenatae  dominationis  correctio, 
ideo  protinus  demandatam  nobis  arbitremur  :  quibus  nullum  aliud 
quam  parendi  et  patiendi  datum  est  mandatum.  De  privatis  hominibus 
semper  loquor.  Nam  si  qui  nunc  sint  populares  magistratus  ad  moder- 
andam  regum  libidinem  constituti,  adeo  illos  ferocienti  regum  licentiae 
pro  officio  intercedere  non  veto." — Institutio  Christianae  Beligionis, 
lib.  iv.  chap.  xx. 

"At  vero  in  ea,  quam  praefectorum  imperiis  deberi  constituimus, 
obedientia,  id  semper  excipiendum  est,  imo  in  primis  observandum,  ne 
ab  ejus  obedientia  nos  deducat,  cujus  voluntati  regum  omnium  vota 
subesse,"  etc. — Ibid. 


280 


THE   LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


rights  of  the  Crown. ^  In  the  year  of  the  revolt  of 
Bordeaux,  1548,  "in  face  of  the  scaffolds  erected  in 
the  public  places  of  the  towns  of  Aquitaine,"  the 
celebrated  Contr  Un  of  la  Boetie,  the  friend  of 
Montaigne,  was  written,  in  which  it  was  maintained, 
in  a  torrent  of  youthful  eloquence,  that  for  the  many 
to  be  the  slaves  of  the  one  was  a  disgrace  to  the 
dignity  of  human  nature.  This  pamphlet  was  not 
published  till  many  years  after  ;  but  the  fact  that 
it  was  written  before  the  civil  war  and  St.  Bar- 
tholomew is  but  one  proof  among  many  that  the 
boldest  opinions  regarding  the  rights  of  the  people 
were  in  the  air  long  before  these  events. 

The  sketch  of  opinion  that  has  just  been  given 
applies  in  the  first  place  to  France  ;  but  the  politi- 
cal and  intellectual  bond  between  France  and  Scot- 
land was  for  centuries  so  close  that  we  need  not 
wonder  to  find  in  the  one  the  ideas  and  aspirations 
of  the  other.  Before  Buchanan,  the  two  writers  of 
note  who  dealt  with  the  rights  of  the  Crown  in 
Scotland  were  Major  and  Boece.  As  Majors  His- 
tory was  published  in  1521,  and  that  of  Boece  in 
1527,  neither  was  influenced  by  the  great  political 
and  rehgious  impulses  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
As  has  already  been  said.  Major  remained  through 
life  a  schoolman  pure  and  simple.  His  intellectual 
interests  as  well  as  his  medieval  Latin  put  this 
beyond  question.  But  he  was  a  schoolman  in  the 
line  of  those  independent  thinkers  whose  political 
views  have  been  cited  above.  We  have  seen  how 
he  was  regarded  in  Paris  as  one  of  the  champions 
of  the  privileges  of  the  University  against  the 
Pope.    His  opinions  regarding  the  true  source  of 

^  Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  vol.  viii.  livre  iv. 


HIS  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 


281 


authority  in  a  nation  are  equally  bold  and  hetero- 
dox. Everything,  indeed,  that  Buchanan  himself 
has  said  regarding  the  Royal  prerogative  in  Scot- 
land, Major  said  before  him  with  the  quaint  blunt- 
ness  and  directness  that  mark  his  style.  That  his 
political  opinions  were  really  abiding  convictions  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  he  expresses  himself  with 
the  same  decision  in  his  History  and  in  his  purely 
scholastic  writings.  In  his  History  we  have  such 
sentiments  as  these :  "As  it  was  the  people  who 
first  made  kings,  so  the  people  can  dethrone  them 
when  they  misuse  their  privileges."  ^  Elsewhere  he 
is  still  bolder,  in  the  statement  of  his  views  as  to 
the  measure  that  should  be  dealt  to  bad  kings. 
"  As  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  body,"  he 
says,  that  an  unhealthy  member  is  removed,  so  is 
it  for  the  welfare  of  a  State  that  a  tyrant  should  be 
cut  off"."  ^  This  is  as  explicit  a  statement  on  the 
subject  as  anything  we  find  in  Knox  or  Buchanan. 

Though  a  contemporary  of  Major,  Boece  be- 
longed to  the  Benaissance  rather  than  to  Scholas- 
ticism. Bis  Latin  style  and  his  whole  manner  of 
conducting  his  narrative  is  so  distinct  from  that  of 
Major,  that  the  difference  implies  not  only  an 
essentially  distinct  type  of  mind,  but  essentially 
distinct  intellectual  ideals.    Yet  Boece  s  political 

1  The  following  sentences  will  illustrate  Major's  Latin  style  as  well 
as  his  political  opinions  :  "Populus  liber  primo  regi  dat  robur,  cujus 
potestas  a  toto  populo  dependet  ;  quia  aliud  jus  Fergusius  primus  rex 
Scotiae  non  habuit  :  et  ita  est  ubilibet  et  ab  orbe  condito  erat  coramu- 
niter.  Si  dicas  mihi  ab  Henrico  Septimo  Henricus  Octavus  jus  habet, 
ad  primuni  Anglorum  regem  ascendani ,  quaerendo  a  quo  ille  jus  regni 
habuit "?  et  ita  ubivis  gentium  procedam." — l)e  Gestis  IScotorum,  lib.  iv. 
cap.  xvii. 

2  "  Cum  licentia  totius  corporis  veri  tollitur  hoc  membrum  ;  etiam 
facultate  totius  corporis  mystici,  tu,  tamque  minister  comitatis,  potes 
hunc  tyrannum  occidere,  dum  est  licite  condempnatus." — Quoted  by 
M'Crie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.  (Note  d). 


282 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


philosophy  is  identical  with  that  of  Major,  though 
his  ideas  of  liberty  were  drawn,  not  from  the  school- 
men, but  from  the  classical  writers,  whom  he  had 
evidently  studied  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  humanists. 
He  does  not  present  his  political  teaching  in  the 
dogged,  logical  form  of  Major :  his  notions  regard- 
ing popular  rights  are  wrought  into  his  narrative 
and  quietly  taken  for  granted.  Thus,  when  he 
relates  how  Theseus,  one  of  the  legendary  kings, 
was  dethroned  and  exiled  for  misgovernment,  he 
makes  no  comment  on  this  exercise  of  popular 
authority,  but  seems  to  think  that  his  readers  will 
take  it  as  a  matter  of  course.  Yet  there  is  so  little 
uncertainty  about  his  opinions,  that  Bishop  Nicol- 
son  could  say  that  "  Boece's  principles  in  polity 
were  no  better  than  those  of  Buchanan  ".^ 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  abundantly  appears 
that  the  political  doctrines  laid  down  by  Knox  in 
his  famous  interview  with  Mary  had,  in  truth,  the 
support  of  many  of  the  ablest  doctors  of  her  own 
Church,  and  that  so  far  from  being  new  or  peculiar 
to  Scotland,  they  had  their  advocates  in  all  the 
kingdoms  of  Europe  from  the  very  beginning  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Though  they  have  been  quoted 
so  often,  the  sentences  may  once  more  be  given  in 
which  Knox  lays  down  his  doctrine  of  the  people's 
right  of  resistance  to  bad  rulers.  ''  .Do  you  main- 
tain," asked  Mary,  "  that  subjects  having  power 
may  resist  their  princes  ? "  "  Most  assuredly,"  said 
Knox,  '*  if  princes  exceed  their  bounds  ;  God  hath 
nowhere  commanded  higher  reverence  to  be  given 
to  kings  by  their  subjects  than  to  parents  by  their 
children  :  and  yet,  if  a  father  or  mother  be  struck 

^  Scottish  Historical  Library,  p.  37  (London,  1736). 


DE  JURE  REGNL 


283 


with  madness,  and  attempt  to  slay  his  children, 
they  may  lawfully  bind  and  disarm  him  till  the 
frenzy  be  overpast.  It  is  even  so,  Madame,  with 
princes  that  would  murder  the  children  of  God, 
who  may  be  their  subjects.  Their  blind  zeal  is 
nothing  but  a  mad  frenzy,  and  therefore  to  take 
the  sword  from  them,  to  bind  their  hands,  and  to  cast 
them  into  prison,  till  they  be  brought  to  a  more  sober 
mind,  is  no  disobedience  against  princes,  but  just 
obedience,  because  it  agreeth  with  the  word  of  God."  ^ 

The  events  of  the  few  years  that  followed  this 
interview  were  the  practical  commentary  on  this 
teaching  of  Knox.  In  accordance  with  that  teach- 
ing, a  large  number  of  Mary's  subjects  thwarted  her 
government  by  all  the  means  in  their  power,  and  in 
1567  dethroned  her  on  the  plea  that  she  had  for- 
feited the  allegiance  of  her  people.  It  was  to  meet 
the  animadversions  on  these  doings  of  his  country- 
men that  Buchanan  wrote  his  De  Jure  Regni.  So 
far,  and  so  far  only,  the  dialogue  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  product  of  immediate  temporary  circum- 
stance. As  far  as  its  political  theories  are  concerned, 
these  were  an  inheritance  that  lay  at  his  hand. 

The  dialogue  was  published  in  1579  ;  but  it  had 
been  written  several  years  before.  Writing  to  a 
correspondent  in  1579,  he  says  that  he  sends  him 
the  De  Jure  Regni,  written  in  turbulent  times,  but 
now  given  to  the  world  after  a  moderate  period, 
when  the  tumult  was  subsiding,  and  men's  ears  had 
grown  accustomed  to  opinions  of  the  kind  it  con- 
tained.^   In  his  dedication  to  King  James,  he  also 

1  Knox,  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  ii.  p.  282  (Laing's  Edition). 
The  above  modern  rendering  is  that  given  by  Tytler,  History  of  Scotland, 
vol.  iii.  chap.  vi.  p.  154  (Edin.  1873). 

2  Ejpist.  xxiv. 


284 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


says  that  it  was  written  when  Scottish  affairs  were 
in  a  state  of  unsettlement,  and  that  his  object  was 
to  put  before  his  readers  the  origin  and  limits  of 
the  Royal  prerogative  in  Scotland.  The  book,  he 
continues,  had  served  a  good  purpose  at  the  time, 
by  silencing  the  clamour  of  those  who  had  protested 
against  the  existing  arrangement  in  the  State  ;  but 
as  affairs  had  become  more  settled,  "  he  had  dedi- 
cated his  arms  to  public  concord In  looking 
through  his  papers  he  had  lately  come  upon  his 
dialogue,  and  it  occurred  to  him  that  its  publication 
might  be  of  real  service  to  James  himself,  in  show- 
ing him  in  true  colours  what  a  king  of  Scotland 
should  aim  at  being. 

The  book  must  therefore  have  been  written 
shortly  after  the  return  of  the  Commissioners  from 
London,  possibly  even  before  the  assassination  of 
Moray  in  1570.  Its  leading  motive  is  identical 
with  that  of  Milton  in  his  Defence  of  the  People  of 
England — the  justification  of  his  countrymen  in 
the  eyes  of  Europe.  Dryden,  indeed,  goes  so  far 
as  to  accuse  Milton  of  having  stolen  his  Defence 
from  Buchanan.^  But  though  the  motive  and 
teaching  of  both  is  the  same,  and  though 
Milton  had  certainly  read  Buchanan's  dialogue, 
this  charge  is  irrelevant.  It  is  interesting  to  note, 
however,  how  keenly  both  resent  foreign  criticism 
on  their  countrymen,  as  at  once  insolent  and  un- 
generous. With  Buchanan  this  is  the  first  and 
last  word  of  his  treatise. 

The  book  is  in  the  form  of  an  imaginary  dialogue 
between  Buchanan  and  Thomas  Maitland,  a  younger 
brother  of  Secretary  Maitland.     Young  Maitland 

J  Preface  to  The  Medal 


DE  JURE  REGNI. 


285 


is  represented  as  having  recently  returned  from 
France ;  and,  by  way  of  introduction,  Buchanan  asks 
him  how  late  events  in  Scotland  are  being  talked  of 
on  the  Continent.  He  is  told  that  men  speak  very 
freely  of  the  seditious  character  of  the  Scots,  as 
shown  in  the  murder  of  Darnley,  and  in  the  pro- 
ceedings against  Mary.  But,  objects  Buchanan, 
if  they  are  so  indignant  at  the  murder  of  Darnley, 
why  are  they  so  full  of  pity  for  Mary  ?  If  Mary 
was  guilty  of  Darnley's  murder,  she  certainly  de- 
served punishment.  Those  who  will  not  admit 
this  must  belong  to  one  of  three  classes — those  who 
pander  to  the  desires  of  princes,  because  they  hope 
to  profit  by  their  misdeeds ;  those  who,  for  their 
own  selfish  ends,  approve  peace  at  any  price  ;  or, 
lastly,  the  ignorant  multitude,  who  are  unwilling 
to  quit  the  beaten  track,  because  they  think  every 
novelty  a  crime. 

The  argument  of  the  dialogue  now  begins ;  but 
Buchanan  first  asks  that  it  may  be  allowed  him  as  a 
provisional  postulate  that  king  and  tyrant  are  con- 
tradictories. This  being  granted,  he  proceeds  to 
consider  the  origins  of  all  society.  Primitive  men 
had  no  fixed  homes,  no  settled  laws  ;  how  did  they 
come  in  time  to  have  both  ?  Utility,  which  some 
have  suggested,  is  not  a  satisfactory  explanation, 
since  if  individual  men  always  considered  their  own 
interest,  it  would  lead  rather  to  the  dissolution  than 
the  building  up  of  society.  The  true  explanation  is 
that  in  man  there  is  a  natural  instinct  which  leads 
him  to  associate  with  his  fellows.^    UtiHty  is  rather 

1  Buchanan's  contemporary,  Bodin,  like  many  subsequent  thinkers, 
thought  that  violence  created  society.  "  Nos  ipsa  ratio,"  he  says, 
"  deducit  imperia  scilicet  ac  respublicas  vi  primum  coaluisse." — De 
Rejpuhlicd,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi.  p.  40  (Ed.  1591). 


286 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  handmaid  than  the  mother  of  justice  and  equity. 
Now,  as  in  our  bodies  there  are  conflicting  prin- 
ciples, which  induce  disease,  so  it  is  with  society. 
What  the  physician,  therefore,  is  to  the  body,  the 
king  is  to  society.  The  various  names  by  which  he 
is  known,  father,  shepherd,  and  the  like,  prove  that 
the  king  exists  not  for  himself  but  for  his  people. 
The  aim  of  physician  and  king  is  the  same — to  pre- 
serve health,  and  to  restore  it  when  lost.  In  the 
State  as  in  the  body  there  is  a  certain  tempera- 
mentum.  For  the  State  this  is  justice.  Mait- 
land  objects  that  temperance  is  the  apter  virtue. 
Buchanan  replies  that  the  term  is  immaterial. 

But  how  can  kings  justly  arise  The  answer  is, 
When  they  are  chosen  by  the  people,  and  continued 
in  their  ofiice  by  its  will.  But  as  no  vote  of  the 
people  can  make  a  man  an  artist  or  a  physician,  so 
it  may  be  said  that  the  people  cannot  make  a  king. 
But  in  the  case  of  the  artist  a  collection  of  precepts 
guide  him  in  the  exercise  of  his  art.  In  the  case  of 
the  king  these  precepts  make  what  we  call  law. 
Prudence  is  the  art  which  the  king  has  to  practise  ; 
but  as  kings  are  not  all  gifted  with  prudence,  the 
law  is  added  as  something  outside  by  which  he  must 
be  guided. 

Maitland  here  objects  that  Buchanan  would 
unduly  limit  the  power  of  kings,  which  is,  indeed, 
exactly  what  might  have  been  expected  from  his 
extravagant  praise  of  the  ancient  republics  and  of 
Venice.  Buchanan  replies  that  it  is  immaterial  to 
him  what  form  of  government  a  people  may  choose 
so  long  as  it  is  legitimate.  King,  doge,  consul,  all 
are  alike  to  him.  Kings  exist  only  for  the  admini- 
stration of  justice.     Because  they  failed  in  this 


DE  JURE  REGNI. 


287 


the  law  was  added.  Rex,  lex  loquens ;  lex,  rex 
mutus. 

As  the  people  are  the  authors  of  kings,  so  they 
are  and  ought  to  be  the  authors  of  the  law.  They 
must  also  be  its  interpreters,  since  otherwise  they 
could  have  no  assurance  that  their  interests  would 
be  safe.  Such  limitations  of  their  powers  is  no  dis- 
honour to  kings,  for  it  still  leaves  them  the  function 
of  the  true  physician — that  of  relieving  the  State 
from  all  the  evils  to  which  it  is  incident.  While  it 
is  forbidden  them  to  override  the  law,  the  glorious 
task  is  assigned  them  of  preserving  and  adminis- 
trating it  in  its  integrity — and  could  a  god  desire  a 
more  exalted  one  ? 

Buchanan  then  proceeds  to  distinguish  between 
kings  and  tyrants.  He  finds  the  distinction  to  be 
that  the  latter  seize  and  hold  the  power  against  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  make  their  own  will  the  law/ 
Here  Maitland  urges  that  as  in  Scotland  kings  are 
hereditary  and  not  elective,  the  people  must  needs 
be  content  with  whatever  ruler  chance  may  bring 
them.  Buchanan's  answer  is  that  the  Scottish 
people  have  always  retained  and  exercised  the  right 

^  We  have  seen  that  the  questions  —What  constitutes  a  tyrant,  and 
under  what  circumstances  is  a  people  justified  in  calling  him  to  account? 
— intensely  agitated  men's  minds  about  the  period  the  De.  Jure  JRegni 
was  written.  After  St.  Bartholomew  numberless  writings  discussing 
these  questions  made  their  appearance.  Bodin,  a  supporter  of  authority, 
differs  considerably  from  Buchanan  in  the  answer  he  gives  to  the  above 
questions.  This  is  his  definition  of  a  tyranny  :  "  Tyrannis  est  in  quaunus 
homo,  divinis  ac  naturae  legibus  sublatis,  rebus  alienis  ut  suis,  et  liberis 
hominibus  quasi  mancipiis  ad  libidinem  abutitur." — Lib.  ii.  cap.  iv. 
p.  261.  In  the  case  of  such  rulers  Bodin  justifies  tyrannicide.  In  the 
case  of  a  lawful  king,  he  will  not  allow  his  subjects  under  any  circum- 
stances to  sit  in  judgment  on  him.  He  thinks,  however,  that  they 
are  at  liberty  to  call  in  a  neighbouring  prince  to  dethrone  him.  This 
position  of  Bodin  almost  justifies  the  views  of  such  men  as  Buchanan. 
As  is  well  known,  the  Catholics  of  the  League  taught  the  same  doctrine 
regarding  tyrannicide  as  the  Huguenots. 


288  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

of  calling  bad  kings  to  account,  and  of  punishing 
violence  offered  to  good  ones.  The  murderers  of 
James  i.  were  treated  with  every  severity ;  the 
death  of  James  iii.  was  allowed  to  go  unpunished. 
The  coronation  oath  by  which  the  Scottish  kings 
swear  to  preserve  the  laws  of  the  country  clearly 
proves  the  limited  nature  of  their  authority.  J ohn 
Baliol  was  rejected  by  the  Scottish  nobility  because 
he  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  Edward  i. 

The  treatment  of  tyrants  is  next  discussed. 
Paul,  Maitland  suggests,  taught  obedience  to  the 
higher  powers  under  all  circumstances  ;  and  Caligula 
and  Nero  then  reigned.  The  answer  is  that  Paul 
speaks  not  of  kings,  but  of  the  principle  of  authority. 
That  this  must  have  been  his  meaning  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  if  he  had  meant  unconditional  obedience 
to  every  kind  of  ruler,  his  words  would  equally  apply 
to  all  grades  of  office.  Judges,  therefore,  and  other 
subordinate  officials,  could  not  be  punished  for  their 
misdemeanours.  Moreover,  it  is  the  express  com- 
mand of  Scripture  that  every  criminal  should  be 
punished,  and  nowhere  is  any  immunity  from 
punishment  granted  to  tyrants.  Though  Scripture 
may  contain  no  instance  of  a  king  punished  by  his 
subjects,  this  would  by  no  means  imply  that  it  dis- 
approves such  punishment.  Besides,  in  the  case  of 
the  J ewish  kings,  God  himself  was  their  founder : 
to  Him,  therefore,  it  was  fitting  they  should  directly 
render  account.  If  we  take  other  countries,  all  pre- 
cedent favours  the  right  of  the  people  to  punish  bad 
kings.  Twelve  or  more  bad  kings  of  Scotland  might 
be  named  who  were  imprisoned,  exiled,  or  put  to 
death  by  their  subjects.  The  case  of  James  iii.  puts 
this  right  of  the  Scottish  people  beyond  question. 


DE  JURE  REGNL 


289 


In  the  Assembly  of  Estates  it  was  enacted  that 
James  had  jnstly  suffered  death,  a  clause  being 
added  that  no  one  should  be  injured  who  had  been 
concerned  in  the  conspiracy  against  him.^  But, 
says  Maitland,  the  very  law  by  which  the  Estates 
justified  themselves  is  more  likely  to  be  called  in 
question  by  foreign  nations  than  the  deed  itself.  In 
that  case,  Buchanan  replies,  every  law  may  be  called 
in  question.  It  is  the  king  who  receives  authority 
from  the  law,  and  not  vice  versa.  But  as  it  is  the 
people  who  made  the  law,  they  must  surely  possess 
the  power  of  dealing  with  the  king  who  breaks  it. 
Nor  is  it  derogatory  to  a  king  to  be  tried  by  his 
own  subjects,  since  the  law  by  which  he  is  tried  is 
in  reality  but  his  own  voice.  A  king,  if  guilty  of 
any  crime,  should  be  judged  by  the  same  law  as  the 
private  citizen.  If  he  refuse  to  submit  to  a  trial, 
force  should  then  be  applied,  since  he  has  broken 
his  compact  with  his  people,  and  has  become  a 
tyrant.  Nay,  since  he  is  now  a  public  enemy,  indi- 
viduals as  well  as  the  people  collectively  do  well  to 
slay  him.  Here  Buchanan  professes  simply  to 
answer  the  question  how  far  the  rights  of  the 
people  against  tyrants  extend.  The  interests  of 
the  people  must  determine  when  the  punishment  of 
a  tyrant  is  advisable.^  The  dialogue  then  closes 
with  an  indignant  protest  against  the  impertinent 
criticism  passed  on  Scottish  affairs  by  foreign 
nations.  The  Scots  little  deserve  the  charge  of 
being  seditious,  since  no  nation  has  been  more 
faithful  to  its  kings,  and  has  more  steadily  sacri- 

^  As  is  well  known,  the  lawyers  of  the  seventeenth  century  sought 
to  efface  this  precedent  by  mutilating  the  record  in  which  it  is  set  forth. 

2  These  are  his  words  :  "  Praeterea  ego  in  hoc  genere  quid  fieri  jure 
possit  aut  debeat  explico,  non  ad  rem  suscipiendum  exhortor." 

T 


290 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEOKGE  BUCHANAN. 


ficed  the  interests  of  the  few  to  the  interests  of  the 
many.  It  is  the  best  proof  of  this,  says  Buchanan, 
that  there  is  no  older  monarchy  in  Europe  than  that 
of  the  Scots. 

From  this  analysis  it  will  be  seen  that 
Buchanan's  tract  is  no  contribution  to  political 
science  like  the  Repithlic  of  Bodin,  or  even  the 
Francogallia  of  his  other  contemporary  Hotman. 
Buchanan  makes  no  attempt,  like  Bodin,  by  the 
application  of  philosophical  thinking  to  the  facts 
of  history,  to  educe  a  form  of  government  which 
should  abide  the  test  of  practice  and  best  serve 
the  wellbeing  of  a  people.  Neither  does  he,  like 
Hotman,  endeavour  to  base  his  theory  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Scots  on  a  solid  array  of  facts  that 
will  stand  the  simplest  historic  test.-^  But  to 
expect  philosophic  thinking  or  scientific  research 
in  Buchanan  is  to  expect  what  was  alien  alike 
to  his  own  habit  of  mind  and  the  genius  of  his 
century.  The  dialogue  is  to  be  regarded  simply 
as  a  party  pamphlet ;  and  as  such  its  success  was 
triumphant.  Three  editions  of  it  appeared  in  three 
successive  years.  On  the  Continent  its  publication 
was  expected  with  eager  interest  by  the  most  dis- 
tinguished scholars.  I  have  received  your  De  Jure 
Eegni/'  writes  one  of  his  correspondents,  the  very 
year  of  its  publication,  "which  you  sent  me  by  the 
letter-carrier  of  our  friend  Sturm.  The  gift  would 
have  been  a  most  welcome  one  had  the  importunities 
of  certain  friends  permitted  me  to  take  advantage 

1  Hotman's  object  in  his  Francogallia  is  much  the  same  as  that  of 
Buchanan — to  prove  that  originally  France  had  the  right  of  electing 
its  kings,  and  of  sitting  in  judgment  on  its  bad  ones.  Hotman's  treatise, 
however,  though  also  that  of  a  strong  partisan,  has  a  much  higher  his- 
toric value  than  Buchanan's  De  Jure  Begni. 


DE  JURE  REQNI. 


291 


of  it.  But  the  very  moment  of  its  arrival,  Dr. 
Wilson  borrowed  it  from  me.  He  lent  it  to  the 
chancellor,  the  chancellor  to  the  treasurer,  who  has 
not  yet  returned  it,  so  that  to  this  day  it  has  never 
been  in  my  hands.  Your  book  has  the  approval  of 
all  men  of  judgment  and  experience,  and  all  who 
have  eyes  to  see  the  present  political  situation.  The 
parasites  of  princes,  and  such  as  think  that  laws 
are  made  to  be  altered  at  their  pleasure,  will  have 
nothing  of  it.  Almost  everybody  admires  the 
genius  which  at  your  advanced  age  can  so  skil- 
fully catch  the  manner  of  the  Platonic  dialogue. 
.  .  .  Sturm,  Hotman,  and  others  are  all  eagerness 
to  have  a  sight  of  it."  ^ 

As  we  have  seen,  it  continued  to  be  widely  read 
during  the  next  century,  and  to  be  regarded  as  a 
highly  dangerous  document  by  all  the  upholders  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings.  ^  Its  small  bulk,  and  the 
singular  clearness  and  simplicity  of  its  arguments, 
gave  it  the  advantage  over  Milton's  rambling  and 
incoherent  Defence  of  the  People  of  England  and 
the  tediously  pedantic  Lex  Rex  of  Samuel  Ruther- 
furd.  It  might  have  been  supposed  that  the  interest 
of  Buchanan's  dialogue  would  have  ceased  with  the 
English  Revolution  of  1688.  Yet  no  fewer  than 
three  editions  of  it  in  separate  form  were  published 
during  the  eighteenth  century.     It  is  also  worthy 

^  E'pist.  xxvi. 

2  Hannay  {North  Brit.  Rev.  vol.  xlvi.)  quotes  the  following  squib 
produced  during  the  English  Civil  Wars  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  Jesuit  is  Mariana,  who  in  his  De  Rege  et  Regis  Institutionc  taught 
similar  doctrines  to  that  of  Buchanan  : — 

"  A  Scot  and  Jesuit,  hand  in  hand, 
First  taught  the  world  to  say 
That  subjects  ought  to  have  command, 
And  monarchs  to  obey." 


292  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  note  that  in  the  year  of  the  French  Kevolu- 
tion,  1789,  an  EngUsh  translation  was  published 
in  London ;  ^  and  that  in  the  year  of  the  secession 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  1843,  another 
translation  appeared,  bovmd  up  with  the  Lex  Rex 
of  Samuel  Rutherfurd.^ 

However  slight,  therefore,  may  be  the  scientific 
value  of  Buchanan's  tract,  it  is  evident  that  it  has  a 
very  distinct  place  in  the  development  of  political 
thought.  The  doctrines  he  taught,  which  by  many 
in  his  own  day,  and  in  the  century  that  followed,  were 
regarded  as  subversive  of  all  government,  were  in 
every  point  carried  into  practice  at  the  great  English 
Revolution.  As  for  his  ideas  regarding  tyrannicide, 
the  realisation  of  his  views  of  the  mutual  relation  of 
king  and  people  rendered  unnecessary  even  their 
theoretic  discussion.  In  accounting  for  the  demo- 
cratic tendencies  of  modern  Scotland,  Buchanan 
has  to  be  considered  as  well  as  Knox  and  Andrew 
Melville. 

1  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  247. 

^  Robert  Ogle,  and  Oliver  and  Boyd,  Edinburgh,  1843. 


CHAPTER  XYIIL 


HIS  HISTOKY  OF  SCOTLAND. 

Buchanan's  most  ambitious  literary  work  was  his 
last.  This  was  his  History  of  Scotland  in  twenty 
books,  that  all  but  fills  the  thicker  folio  in  Euddi- 
mans  edition  of  his  works/  To  write  history  in 
Buchanan's  day  was  something  very  different  from 
writing  it  in  ours.  The  limited  number  of  autho- 
rities he  had  to  consult,  the  easy  standard  of  accu- 
racy he  had  to  satisfy,  made  his  task  a  far  lighter 
one  than  a  similar  undertaking  would  be  at  the 
present  day.  Yet,  produced  as  it  was  in  advanced 
age,  in  broken  health,  and  apparently  in  other  un- 
toward circumstances,  Buchanan's  History  must  be 
regarded  as  a  signal  proof  of  the  native  vigour  of 
his  mind,  and  of  his  ardent  and  indomitable  temper. 

When  he  actually  began  his  task  we  cannot 
exactly  determine.  In  his  dedicatory  letter  to 
James,  he  tells  how  the  idea  of  his  undertaking 
first  came  to  him.  Shortly  after  his  final  return  to 
Scotland,  when  engaged  in  preparing  a  complete 
edition  of  his  poems,  his  friends  had  unanimously 
besought  him  to  produce  a  work  ''more  worthy  of 
his  advanced  years  and  of  the  expectations  his 

1  Eerum  Scoticarum  Historia. 


294  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


countrymen  had  formed  of  him".  Such  a  work, 
they  urged,  would  be  a  history  of  his  native 
country,  than  which  none  could  bring  him  more 
applause  or  assure  him  a  more  enduring  reputation. 
He  was  the  more  easily  persuaded  to  the  under- 
taking, "  since  our  island  of  Britain  is  the  most 
famous  in  the  world,  and  its  history  embraces 
events  in  every  respect  worthy  of  narration". 
Moreover,  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages,  hardly  a  single 
writer  had  dared  to  undertake  the  task,  or  had 
proved  himself  equal  to  its  execution.  In  telling 
the  story  of  James's  ancestors,  also,  he  would  in 
some  measure  atone  for  his  inability,  through  con- 
firmed ill-health,  to  perform  the  daily  duties  imposed 
on  him  of  fostering  James's  talents.  Such,  by  his 
own  account,  was  the  origin  of  the  most  arduous  of 
all  his  labours. 

In  a  letter  dated  1576,  one  of  his  correspondents 
says  that three  years  ago  Buchanan  had  given  him 
hopes  of  seeing  a  book  which  he  had  written  on  the 
origin  of  the  British  peoples".^  But  it  is  not  till 
1577  that  we  hear  from  himself  that  he  is  actually 
at  work  on  his  task.  In  a  letter  dated  from  Stirling 
in  that  year  he  tells  Bandolph  that  his  History  is 
his  main  occupation.  As  for  the  present,"  he  says, 
"  I  am  occupiit  in  writyng  of  our  historie,  being 
assurit  to  content  few,  and  to  displease  many  thair- 
throw.  As  to  the  end  of  it,  yf  ye  gett  it  not  or 
thys  winter  be  passit,  lippin  not  for  it,^  nor  nane 
other  writyngs  from  me.  The  rest  of  my  occupation 
is  wyth  the  gout,  quhilk  haldis  me  besy  both  day 
and  nyt."  ^  Writing  also  to  another  correspondent 
in  1579,  he  speaks  of  his  various  literary  occupa- 

^  Epist.  xiv. 

-  Do  not  reckon  on  receiving  it.  ^  Letter  already  quoted. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


295 


tions,  and  specially  mentions  his  History.  To  my 
other  labours,"  he  proceeds,  "  I  must  add  that  of  my 
History,  a  task  irksome  enough  at  the  best  period  of 
life ;  but,  with  death  immediately  before  my  eyes, 
and  the  disgrace  of  leaving  undone  what  I  have 
once  undertaken,  both  tedious  and  ungrateful,  since 
I  am  neither  permitted  to  desist,  nor  have  any 
pleasure  in  going  on."  ^  By  1579  his  correspondents 
had  heard  that  his  work  was  nearing  completion, 
and  begin  to  express  their  desire  for  its  appearance. 
In  that  year  Randolph  writes  to  him  as  follows  : — 
"  This  putteth  me  in  Mynd  of  many  things  more 
great  prayse  worthie  donne  by  you,  especially  the 
Historie  of  our  whole  Isle,  wherein  I  may  justly 
complayne  of  you,  my  good  Maister,  that  I  shall  not 
have  so  much  as  a  sight  therof,  before  myne  Eyes 
be  cleane  shutt  up,  that  no  we  are  become  for  Age 
very  dymme.  What  maketh  yow  to  doubt  to  let  it 
come  foorthe,  a  Spectacle  unto  the  World,  no  lesse 
famous  then  Apelles  Table  was,  and  as  voyde  of 
comptrollement  as  his  Worke  was,  howe  curiouse 
soever  the  Souter  would  seme  to  be  ?  I  pray  yow 
deferre  no  more  Tyme ;  at  the  least  let  us  knowe 
what  yow  mynd  to  doe  with  it,  and  employ  my 
Labor,  and  charge  me  so  farre  as  yow  please,  that 
shortly  we  may  enjoy  our  longe  desyrid  Hope  in  a 
Matter  of  so  great  Weight.  Wherin  yow  will  I  am 
ever  at  your  Command."  ^  Randolph's  words  lead 
us  to  believe  that,  when  he  wrote,  the  work  was 
already  finished,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  was 
held  back  from  publication.  That  this  was  the  case 
is  proved  by  a  letter  of  Bowes  to  Cecil  dated  from 
Stirling  the  previous  year^: — "  Buchanan  hath  ended 


^  Epist.  xxvii.  2  £pist.  xxii. 

2  Murdin,  Collection  of  State  Papers,  p.  316  (Lond.  1759,  fol.). 


296 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


his  story  wryttin  to  the  death  of  the  Erie  of  Murray. 
He  proposeth  to  command  it  to  print  shortly  :  but 
one  thing  of  late  hath  heen  withdraiven  from  him, 
which  he  trusteth  to  recover,  or  else  to  supply  of 
new  with  soever  travell.  He  accepteth  your  lord- 
ship's commendations  with  great  comfort,  and  re- 
turn eth  to  your  lordship  his  humble  duty  and 
thanks."  As  another  book  continues  his  History 
after  the  assassination  of  Moray,  the  delay  may 
have  been  due  to  the  lack  of  certain  materials  to 
complete  his  task. 

It  need  not  excite  our  wonder  that  Buchanan, 
who  was  easily  the  greatest  poet  of  his  age", 
should  also  have  undertaken  to  write  history. 
Division  of  intellectual  labour  was  hardly  under- 
stood by  the  humanists  ;  nor  had  they  realised  that 
special  faculties  and  special  types  of  mind  are  de- 
manded for  special  studies.  It  was  the  belief  of 
Buchanan's  friends  that  as  he  wrote  the  best  verses 
of  his  time,  the  probability  was  that  he  would  also 
write  the  best  History.  We  have  just  seen  in  his 
letter  to  James  what  motives  had  prompted  him  to 
his  work.  Yet  the  fact  that  he  wrote  his  History 
in  Latin  and  not  in  Scots,  of  which  he  was  really  a 
master,  proves  that  to  the  very  last  Buchanan 
belonged  to  Europe  rather  than  to  Scotland.  It 
was  certainly  open  to  him,  as  to  Knox  and  Bishop 
Lesley,^  to  have  written  his  last  and  most  important 
book  in  the  language  in  which  all  his  countrymen 
could  have  understood  him.  But  the  instincts  of 
the  humanist  were  still  too  strong  for  him,  and  the 
ambition  to  speak  to  learned  Europe  overbore  the 
more  patriotic  motive  to  speak  in  their  own  language 
to  the  limited  circle  of  his  own  countrymen.    At  the 

^  Lesley  afterwards  published  a  version  of  his  History  in  Latin. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


297 


same  time  it  may  be  urged  for  Buchanan  that  he, 
Uke  his  friend  Sturm,  confidently  beHeved  that 
sooner  or  later  Latin  was  bound  to  supersede  all  the 
vernacular  languages  of  Europe.  By  writing  in 
Scots,  therefore,  he  may  have  thought  that  he  would 
but  help  to  delay  this  desirable  end,  and  would, 
moreover,  doom  the  great  work  of  his  life  to  speedy 
oblivion. 

Of  the  spirit  and  temper  in  which  Buchanan 
carried  through  his  work  we  have  a  glimpse  in 
certain  casual  references  in  his  letters  to  Randolph. 
In  that  already  quoted  we  have  seen  that  he  believed 
that  his  History  "  would  content  few  and  displease 
many  In  another  letter  to  Bandolph  he  is  more 
explicit  :  "  As  to  my  occupation  at  this  present 
time,  I  am  besy  w^  our  story  of  Scotland  to  purge 
it  of  sum  Inglis  lyis  and  Scottis  vanite,  as  to 
maister  knoks  his  historie  is  in  hys  freindis  handis, 
and  thai  ar  in  consultation  to  mitigat  sum  part 
the  acerbite  of  certain e  wordis  and  sum  taintis 
quhair  in  he  has  followit  to  much  sum  of  your  inglis 
writaris  as  M.  hal  et  siippilatorem  eiusJ'  It  has  of 
late  years  been  shown  that  it  is  precisely  the 
"English  lies  and  Scottish  vanity"  of  which 
Buchanan  speaks  that  have  been  the  main  causes 
of  the  extraordinary  distortion  of  Scottish  history 
from  the  beginning.^  In  the  conscious  endeavour 
not  to  be  misled  by  either  of  these  motives, 
Buchanan's  attitude  was,  therefore,  distinctly  criti- 
cal. That  he  kept  the  two  stumbling-blocks  of  his 
predecessors  in  view,  many  parts  of  his  History  very 
forcibly  remind  us.  But  to  expect  from  Buchanan 
a  critical  handling  of  early  Scottish  history  in  the 

^  See  Mr.  Skene's  Introduction  to  Fordun's  History. 


298 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century,  would,  of  course, 
be  ridiculous.  With  the  best  intentions  in  the 
world,  indeed,  Buchanan  was  as  incapable  of  a 
purely  objective  treatment  of  men  and  things  as  his 
countryman  Carlyle  himself  On  the  other  hand, 
everything  we  know  of  him  goes  to  show  that 
Carlyle  was  not  more  incapable  than  Buchanan  of 
deliberate  misrepresentation  of  facts,  or  compro- 
mising deference  to  opinion.  Intensity  of  con- 
viction and  the  vagaries  of  a  powerful  nature 
may  often  mislead  him  as  to  facts  and  principles, 
but  his  errors  are  those  of  an  independent  thinker, 
who  believed  in  the  sacredness  and  infinite  import- 
ance of  truth.  When  Buchanan  said  that  his 
History  would  "  content  few  and  displease  many", 
he  gives  us  the  key  at  once  to  his  History  and  to 
his  entire  work  and  character.  But  even  had 
Buchanan  been  a  man  of  the  purest  scientific 
temper,  the  time  was  yet  far  ojff  when  early  Scottish 
history  could  possibly  be  placed  on  a  historical  basis. 
It  would  be  absurd,  therefore,  to  blame  him  for  not 
divining  results  which  have  been  reached  only 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.^ 

Buchanan  had  no  such  philosophic  conception 
of  the  task  he  undertook  as  that  which  had  been 
lately  announced  by  Bodin  in  his  Historical  Method. 
According  to  Bodin,  the  task  of  the  historian  is 
above  all  the  study  of  political  conditions,  and  the 
explanation  of  human  revolutions  ".^  In  that  part 
of  his  work  which  he  knew  best,  the  history  of  his 

1  Buchanan's  latest  translator,  Aikman  (Glasgow,  1827),  thinks  that 
he  is  meeting  a  desideratum  in  supplying  a  new  translation  of  Buchanan's 
History.  He  says  in  his  preface  that  Buchanan's  list  of  the  first  forty 
kings  was  "  at  best  doubtful ",  and  he  is  inclined  to  accept  Buchanan  in 
spite  of  Father  Innes,  Pinkerton,  and  Chalmers. 

^  Baudrillart,  Bodin  et  son  Temps,  p.  152. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


299 


own  time,  Buchanan  had  an  excellent  opportunity 
of  putting  in  practice  this  maxim  of  Bodin.  But, 
as  we  shall  see,  though  this  section  of  his  History 
has  an  undoubted  value  of  its  own,  Buchanan  shows 
no  real  insight  into  the  drift  and  scope  of  the  great 
movements  that  passed  under  his  very  eyes.  While 
he  has  thus  no  philosophical  conception  of  his  sub- 
ject, he  has  at  the  same  time  little  of  the  practical 
sense  of  de  Comines  and  Machiavelli,  which  came 
of  their  actual  experience  of  affairs.  In  his  mode  of 
presenting  facts,  and  the  character  of  the  reflections 
he  passes  upon  them,  he  is  simply  the  theorist  to 
whom  forms  of  government  and  their  various  func- 
tions are  subjects  of  keen  feeling  and  conventional 
speculation,  and  not  actualities  that  are  constantly 
being  modified  by  the  friction  of  human  experience. 
His  History  is  a  brilliant  and  powerful  narrative  of 
the  lives  of  the  successive  Scottish  monarchs,  of 
their  wars,  their  battles,  their  quarrels  with  their 
subjects,  their  understandings  and  misunderstand- 
ings with  foreign  powers.  Of  the  growth  of  the 
Scottish  nation,  the  significance  of  special  periods  in 
its  development,  the  gradual  fusion  of  the  races 
that  compose  it — of  these  things  we  learn  little 
from  Buchanan.  His  conception  of  history  was,  in 
short,  the  conventional  one  of  the  humanists,  who 
in  history,  as  in  everything  else,  were  content  to. 
imitate  to  the  best  of  their  ability  the  examples 
they  most  admired  among  the  ancients. 

In  his  first  book,  Buchanan,  following  the  ex- 
ample of  Boece  and  other  predecessors,  gives  a  geo- 
graphical description  of  the  country  whose  history 
he  is  about  to  write.  This  was,  of  course,  from  no 
such  philosophical  conception  as   that   in  which 


300 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Bodiii  anticipated  Montesquieu — the  influence  of 
climate  on  man.^  Yet  this  chapter  is  in  some  re- 
spects the  most  valuable  of  Buchanan's  whole  work. 
The  most  interesting  part  of  his  description  he 
could  give  from  direct  personal  observation,  as  at 
one  time  or  other  he  had  visited  most  corners  of  the 
Lowlands  of  Scotland.  It  gives  an  additional  value 
to  this  report  that  his  extensive  travels  on  the  Con- 
tinent supplied  him  with  contemporary  standards 
by  which  he  could  measure  the  relative  advantages 
of  Scotland.  More  than  half  of  his  description  is 
devoted  to  the  islands  of  Scotland — "  a  part  of 
British  history,"  he  says,  "  which  is  involved  in  the 
gravest  errors".  In  this  part  of  his  description, 
however,  he  professes  not  to  speak  from  personal 
knowledge,  but  on  the  authority  of  one  ^'  Donald 
Monro,  a  pious  man  and  careful  observer,  who  has 
himself  traversed  all  these  islands,  and  examined 
them  with  his  own  eyes".  The  following  is 
Buchanan  s  description  of  the  islanders  themselves, 
which  may  have  a  certain  interest  in  these  days  of 
Crofter  Commissions  : — 

"  In  food,  dress,  and  all  their  domestic  arrange- 
ments they  practise  a  primitive  economy.  They 
live  by  hunting  and  fishing.  In  cooking  their  fish 
they  use  the  stomachs  or  skins  of  the  beasts  they 
kill.  During  their  hunting  expeditions,  they  some- 
times squeeze  out  the  blood  and  eat  the  flesh  raw. 
Their  drink  is  the  broth  of  boiled  flesh.  At  their 
feasts  they  also  drink  with  avidity  the  whey  of 
milk  after  it  has  been  preserved  for  some  years. 
This  beverage  they  call  Bland.^  The  majority 
quench  their  thirst  with  water.    They  make  bread 

1  Baudrillart,  Bodin  et  son  Temjjs,  p.  150. 

2  This  beverage  is  still  in  general  use  in  Shetland. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


301 


of  oats  and  barley  (the  only  crops  produced  in  that 
region).  This  bread  is  not  unpleasant,  as  they  make 
it  with  the  skill  that  comes  of  daily  practice.  A 
little  of  this  in  the  morning  satisfies  them  for  a 
days  hunting  or  other  labour.  They  delight  in 
gay- coloured  garments,  especially  striped.  They 
are  especially  fond  of  purple  and  blue  colours. 
Their  ancestors  wore  plaids  of  various  colours, 
the  colours  being  different  in  different  districts  (as 
is,  indeed,  still  generally  the  case).  Most  of  them 
now  wear  clothes  of  a  dark  brown  colour,  very  like 
heather,  so  that  when  lying  amongst  the  heather  no 
brilliant  colour  may  betray  them.  Their  clothes 
hang  loosely  about  them,  yet  they  brave  every  in- 
clemency of  the  weather,  and  sometimes  sleep  under 
the  snow.  At  home,  also,  they  lie  on  the  ground, 
placing  under  them  fern  or  heath  with  roots  down- 
ward in  such  wise  that  they  have  a  couch  as  soft  as 
down,  and  far  more  wholesome.  The  heath,  with 
its  natural  dryness,  absorbs  all  the  superfluous 
moisture  of  the  body,  and  restores  its  vigour  to  such 
a  degree  that  he  who  lies  down  at  night  wearied 
and  faint  rises  in  the  morning  sprightly  and  active. 
As  for  mattresses  and  bed-clothes,  they  not  merely 
disregard  them,  but  profess  the  most  eager  desire 
for  hardiness  and  simplicity.  If  occasion  or  neces- 
sity ever  call  them  into  another  country,  they  toss 
the  mattress  and  bed-clothes  on  the  ground,  and 
compose  themselves  to  sleep  in  the  clothes  they 
have  on — and  this  they  do  from  their  anxiety  lest 
that  barbarous  self-indulgence  (as  they  call  it)  should 
corrupt  their  native  and  inbred  hardiness.  In  war 
they  cover  their  bodies  with  an  iron  helmet  and  a 
coat  of  mail  constructed  of  iron  rings,  which  gener- 
ally reaches  almost  to  the  heel.    Their  weapons  are 


302  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


bows  and  arrows — the  latter  generally  pointed  with 
barbs,  with  prongs  protruding  on  both  sides,  so  that 
unless  the  wound  be  laid  open  they  cannot  be  ex- 
tracted. Some  fight  with  broadswords  and  axes. 
In  place  of  the  trumpet  they  use  the  bagpipe  (tibia 
utriculari).  They  take  great  delight  in  music, 
though  their  instruments  are  peculiar  to  themselves. 
Some  of  these  instruments  have  brazen  strings,  others 
gut  ones.  These  they  strike  with  quills,  or  their 
nails,  which  they  wear  very  long.  Their  one  ambition 
is  to  bedeck  their  instruments  with  a  great  show 
of  silver  and  jewels.  The  poorer  class  substitute 
crystal  ornaments  for  jewels.  They  also  sing 
songs  not  inartistically  composed,  whose  themes  are 
generally  the  praises  of  heroes.  Their  bards  have 
almost  no  other  theme.  They  speak  in  somewhat 
modified  form  the  ancient  language  of  the  Gauls." 

In  his  second  book,  Buchanan  addresses  himself 
to  a  problem  which  in  his  day,  as  in  ours,  exercised 
all  patriotic  antiquaries — the  origin  of  the  various 
races  that  found  their  way  into  Britain.  By  his 
contemporaries  Buchanan's  treatment  of  the  ques- 
tion was  considered  both  learned  and  critical.  He 
is  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  the  investigation.  In 
my  endeavours,"  he  begins,  "  to  recall  the  events  of 
British  history  of  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago, 
many  difficulties  present  themselves,  but  this  in  chief, 
that  in  these  very  regions  where  the  knowledge  of 
our  origin  ought  to  be  found,  for  a  long  period  no 
learning  existed,  and,  when  late  in  the  day  it  did 
arrive,  it  perished  almost  in  its  birth."  Both  ''English 
lies"  and  "Scottish  vanity"  come  in  here  for  the 
most  vigorous  animadversion.  Of  Albion  and  the 
fifty  daughters  of  Diocletian,  and  Brutus,  and  the 


HIS  HISTOEY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


303 


rest  of  the  legendary  English  history,  Buchanan 
speaks  as  sarcastically  as  Milton  himself.  But  the 
Scottish  legend  of  Gathelus,  the  successor  of  Moses 
in  Egypt,  who  with  his  wife  Scota  founded  the 
nation  of  the  Scots,  is  treated  with  equally  little 
ceremony.^  Like  Milton,  he  takes  the  trouble  to 
tell  this  mythical  history,  but  with  the  apology  to 
the  reader  that  he  does  so  "  because  certain  people 
stand  by  it  as  pertinaciously  as  if  it  had  been  a 
Palladium  dropped  from  Heaven  ". 

Coming  to  what  he  considers  historical  times,  he 
affirms  that  three  peoples  anciently  possessed  the 
whole  island — Britons,  Picts,  and  Scots.  The 
Britons  came  from  Gaul,  though  not  from  that  part 
of  it  known  as  Brittany.  The  Scots  came  from 
Spain  through  Ireland  into  Scotland.  To  dis- 
tinguish the  Scots  of  Ireland  from  those  of  Scot- 
land, the  former  were  called  Irish  Scots,  the  latter 
Albyn  Scots.  In  time,  however,  the  name  Scots 
was  dropped,  and  these  additions  came  to  be  their 
only  distinction.  The  name  Ficts  he  does  not  think 
to  have  been  the  original  name  of  that  people  ;  but 
either  a  name  given  by  the  Bom  an  s,  or  a  Latin  word 
adopted  by  that  people  themselves.  From  their 
habit  of  marking  their  skins  with  iron,  and  adorning 
them  with  the  figures  of  various  animals,  he  conjec- 
tures whence  the  Picts  must  originally  have  come. 
The  Getini,  a  people  of  Thrace,  had  also  this  habit, 
and,  as  Tacitus  has  said,  also  spoke  Gaelic.  The 
inference,  therefore,  must  be  that  the  Picts  are 
kindred  to  the  Getini,  and,  therefore,  came  from 
their  country — either,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic,  or  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 

^  Major  is  equally  sceptical. — De  Gestis  Scotorum^  lib.  i.  cap.  ix. 


304 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Buchanan  is  especially  wroth  with  the  theories  of 
Humphrey  Lloyd,  a  Welsh  antiquary,  who  had 
lately  pubHshed  a  tract  on  the  antiquities  of  Britain. 
Lloyd  had  maintained  that  the  Caledonians  were 
Britons  and  not  Picts,  and  that  the  Scots  and  Picts 
are  not  found  in  Britain  before  the  reign  of  Honorius 
in  420  A.D.  On  this  subject,  as  Bishop  Nicolson 
remarks,  "  Buchanan  is  so  intemperately  hot,  that 
he  appears  to  an  unprejudiced  English  reader  to 
have  more  Welsh  blood  in  him  than  he's  aware  of; 
proving  unadvisedly  what  he  will  not  allow  his 
antagonist  to  have  done,  that  the  ancient  Britons 
and  Scots  are  of  one  family  and  kindred."^  It 
further  excites  his  wrath  that  Lloyd  should  have 
made  "  a  scurrilous  attack  on  Hector  Boece,  a 
man  not  only  distinguished  beyond  his  time,  but 
remarkable  for  his  high-toned  feeling  and  kind 
consideration  of  others 

His  third  book  Buchanan  devotes  to  extracts 
from  ancient  authors,  who  support  the  opinions  he 
has  just  advanced.  The  reasons  he  gives  for  making 
these  quotations  throw  a  curious  light  on  the 
heated  controversies  then  current  on  subjects  which 
of  all  others  might  be  supposed  to  permit  of  "  dry 
light But  such  questions,  we  must  remember, 
had,  before  the  Union  of  the  Crowns,  a  certain 
pohtical  importance  which  in  a  measure  justified  this 
liveliness  of  feeling.  "  Although,"  he  thus  begins 
his  third  book,  I  have  sufficiently  proved  in  the 
two  preceding  books  how  not  only  fabulous,  but 
monstrous,  are  the  matters  which  historians  have 
handed  down  regarding  our  ancestors,  and  have 
shown,  by  the  most  convincing  argument,  that  the 

^  Bishop  Nicolson,  Scottish  Historical  Library. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


305 


Britons  originally  sprang  from  Gaul ;  nevertheless, 
because  I  have  here  to  deal  rather  with  men  who 
doggedly  shut  their  eyes  to  self-evident  truth,  than 
with  men  who  have  heedlessly  stumbled  into  error, 
I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  try  if,  from  writers 
of  the  highest  authority  among  the  learned,  I  might 
not  put  some  check  on  the  presumption  of  idle 
meddlers,  and  supply  weapons  to  good  men  and 
lovers  of  truth,  wherewith  to  restrain  their  licence 
of  statement." 

In  his  fourth  book,  Buchanan  thinks  he  is  on  firm 
ground,  and,  with  Fordun  and  Boece  as  his  principal 
guides,  confidently  embarks  on  that  extraordinary 
history  of  the  legendary  kings,  whose  portraits  adorn 
the  walls  of  Holyrood.^  Here  and  there  he  applies 
the  pruning-knife  to  Boece's  astonishing  narrative, 
but  his  story  is  virtually  the  same  as  that  of  Boece. 
Beginning  with  Fergus,  the  first  king  of  the  Scots 
(330  B.C.),  he  describes  the  reigns  of  sixty-eight 
monarchs  before  Kenneth  Macalpine,  with  a  circum- 
stantiality of  detail  admirably  fitted  to  carry  the 
profoundest  conviction  to  the  innocent  reader.  The 
most  trivial  acts  of  these  kings,  the  exact  dates  of 
their  births  and  deaths,  the  names  of  their  wives 
and  children  and  various  relations,  are  all  given 
with  a  confidence  and  precision  which,  now  that  we 
know  that  the  whole  is  absolute  fiction,  remind  us 
of  the  tales  of  Swift  and  Defoe.  Buchanan  is 
charier  than  Boece  in  putting  elaborate  speeches  in 
the  mouths  of  his  kings,  but  he  also  does  not 
hesitate  to  produce  them  on  occasion.  He  shows 
his  scepticism  most  in  largely  rejecting  the  "  sundry 

^  Major  is  much  more  cautious  on  the  subject  of  these  legendary 
kings  than  Boece  and  Buchanan. 

U 


306 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


merveilles"^  with  which  Boece  continually  seasons 
his  narrative.  Yet  Buchanan  also  has  his  own 
marvels  to  relate,  though  of  a  kind  more  adapted  to 
the  taste  of  his  more  sceptical  generation.  In  his 
history  of  these  legendary  kings,  Buchanan,  like 
Boece,  is  careful  to  unfold  his  own  theories  of  the 
Scottish  constitution.  Thus  of  King  Finnan,  his 
tenth  king,  he  gravely  tells  us  "  that  in  order  that 
he  might  remove  tyranny  root  and  branch,  he  made 
a  decree  that  kings  should  pass  no  law  of  import- 
ance without  the  authority  of  the  public  council". 
Tyrannical  kings  are  invariably  deposed  by  the 
people,  though  the  royal  authority  is  always 
regarded  with  reverence.  Durst,  for  example,  the 
king  who  followed  Finnan,  proved  an  insufferable 
tyrant,  and  his  people  were  forced  to  take  up  arms 
against  him.  But  "  though  all  orders  detested  him, 
yet,  for  the  reverence  due  to  the  royal  name  and 
the  memory  of  his  ancestors,  he  was  buried  in  the 
place  of  his  fathers 

In  the  part  of  his  work  dealing  with  the  period 
of  Roman  occupation,  Buchanan,  as  we  should 
expect,  is  more  critical  than  his  predecessor  Boece. 
Thus  Boece  boldly  claims  as  a  king  of  the  Scots  the 
famous  British  hero  Caractacus,  who,  in  the  reign 
of  Claudius,  made  such  a  gallant  stand  against  the 
Bomans.  Buchanan  also  gives  a  Caradoc  as  a  king 
of  the  Scots  in  the  time  of  Claudius,  but  he  pru- 
dently confines  his  exploits  to  Scotland.  One  of 
Boece's  doughtiest  heroes  is  King  Galdus,  whom 
he  unhesitatingly  identifies  with  the  Galgacus  of 
Tacitus,  and  on  whose  exploits  he  enlarges  in  his 
best  manner.    Buchanan  is  more  cautious.    "  There 

^  The  phrase  is  Bellenden's,  the  translator  of  Boece. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


307 


are  some,"  he  says,  "  who  think  that  this  Galdus  is 
the  Galgacus  of  Tacitus";  and  he  proceeds  to  remark 
that,  in  his  opinion,  Galdus  was  the  first  Scottish 
king  who  bore  arms  against  the  Romans,  thus 
disposing  of  Boece's  other  champion  Caradoc. 

As  we  should  expect,  Buchanan's  opinions  on  the 
early  religious  history  of  Scotland  difier  widely  from 
those  of  Major  and  Boece.  His  account  of  the 
Culdees  is  curious,  and  seems  to  mark  a  tradition 
(now  more  cautiously  accepted)  that  they  differed 
essentially  from  the  later  Roman  Church  in  Scot- 
land. In  the  reign  of  Fincormac,  his  thirty-fifth 
king,  he  tells  us  that,  the  country  being  freed  from 
the  attacks  of  the  Romans,  the  Scots  seriously 
turned  their  attention  to  the  state  of  religion.  As 
it  happened,  at  this  particular  moment  the  persecu- 
tion of  Diocletian  drove  many  pious  men  to  take 
refuge  in  Scotland.  After  lives  of  solitude,  these 
men  left  behind  them  such  a  name  for  sanctity,  that 
the  cells  in  which  they  lived  were  converted  into 
churches.  Hence  arose  the  custom  of  the  ancient 
Scots  of  calling  their  churches  cells.  "  These  monks," 
he  proceeds,  were  called  Culdees,  and  their 
name  and  discipline  remained  till  a  later  race  of 
monks,  divided  into  many  sects,  expelled  them. 
These  monks  were  as  inferior  to  their  predecessors 
in  learning  and  piety  as  they  were  superior  to  them 
in  wealth  and  ceremonial,  and  in  all  other  rites 
which  catch  the  eye  and  delude  the  mind."  In  the 
same  way,  Buchanan  has  nothing  but  praise  for 
Columba,  and  only  reprobation  for  St.  Augustine. 
His  account  of  the  latter  shows  how  completely  he 
had  identified  himself  with  the  views  of  Knox  and 
the  other  Scottish  reformers.    "  In  the  reign  of 


308  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


Aidan  (his  forty-ninth  king),  there  came  to  Britain, 
sent  thither  by  Pope  Gregory,  a  certain  monk 
named  Augustine,  who,  by  his  own  self-seeking, 
wrought  great  confusion  in  the  old  religion  by 
teaching  a  new  one ;  since  it  was  not  so  much 
Christian  doctrine  he  taught  as  the  ritual  of  Rome. 
For  the  Britons  of  former  times,  having  learned 
Christianity  from  the  disciples  of  John  the  Evan- 
gelist, were  instructed  by  monks,  whom  that  age 
had  hitherto  esteemed  both  learned  and  pious.  But 
this  monk,  by  making  the  See  of  Bome  supreme  in 
Britain,  by  giving  himself  out  as  the  one  archbishop 
of  the  whole  country,  and  introducing  a  dispute 
neither  necessary  nor  profitable  concerning  the  time 
for  celebrating  Easter,  brought  much  confusion  into 
the  churches ;  and  by  his  new  ceremonial  and 
fictitious  miracles  so  crushed  the  ancient  discipline, 
already  tending  towards  superstition,  that  hardly  a 
trace  of  sincere  piety  was  left." 

When  he  reaches  the  strictly  historical  period  of 
his  subject,  it  is  the  English  lies"  rather  than 
the  "  Scottish  vanity  "  that  come  in  for  Buchanan  s 
censure.  Though  he  does  not,  like  Fordun  and 
Boece,  boldly  claim  the  foundation  of  Paris  Univer- 
sity for  two  Scotsmen,  yet,  in  his  account  of  the 
union  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  he  is  as  credulous  as 
his  predecessors.  Through  the  prowess  of  Kenneth 
Macalpin,  king  of  the  Scots,  he  maintains  that 
the  rebellious  and  perfidious  Picts  "  were  brought 
under  the  subjection  of  the  Scots,  and  ever  after- 
wards remained  an  inferior  people.  The  English 
historians  had  been  in  the  habit  of  asserting  that  in 
the  reign  of  Constantine  iii.  (that  is,  Buchanan's 
Constantino  iii. )  Athelstane  was  sole  king  of  Britain, 
and  that  all  other  kings  in  the  island  were  his 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


309 


feudatories.  This  calls  forth  one  of  those  scath- 
ing passages,  which  show  that,  in  spite  of  his  old 
age  and  his  gout,  Buchanan  had  lost  little  of 
the  fiery  spirit  of  his  youth.  Those  who  main- 
tain this,"  he  says,  quote  approvingly  many 
wretched  English  scribes,  and  to  corroborate  their 
story  add  Marianus  Scotus,  a  writer  of  high  reputa- 
tion. On  this  matter,  however,  I  have  thought  it 
right  to  warn  the  reader,  that  in  the  edition  of 
Marianus  published  in  Germany  there  is  no  men- 
tion whatever  of  this  circumstance.  If  they  have 
another  Marianus  different  from  the  one  the  rest  of 
the  world  knows,  interpolated  and  touched  up  by 
themselves,  I  wish  they  would  produce  it.  More- 
over, these  men  (being  for  the  most  part  quite 
devoid  of  letters)  do  not  sufficiently  understand 
their  own  writers,  nor  perceive  that  Bede,  William 
of  Malmesbury,  and  GeofPrey  of  Monmouth,  gene- 
rally speak  of  that  country  as  Britain  over  which 
the  Britons  ruled,  namely,  that  which  is  within  the 
wall  of  Hadrian,  or,  when  its  boundary  extended 
further,  within  the  wall  of  Severus."  ^ 

It  is  in  Buchanan's  treatment  of  such  important 
reigns  as  those  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  David  i.,  and 
Alexander  iii.,  that  we  miss  that  philosophical  con- 
ception of  history  which  we  find  in  Bodin  and 
Machiavelli.  Buchanan  is  as  lavish  as  the  chroni- 
clers who  preceded  him  in  his  praises  of  Malcolm. 
Yet  from  his  different  religious  standpoint,  Malcolm's 
ecclesiastical  policy,  prompted  by  his  wife  Margaret, 

^  Buchanan  is  here  in  accordance  with  the  latest  antiquaries  in  dis- 
tinguishing the  wall  of  Hadrian  between  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway  from 
that  of  Severus  between  the  Forth  and  the  Clyde.  Until  recent  years, 
antiquaries,  misled  by  Bede,  have  associated  the  name  of  Severus  with 
the  wall  connecting  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway.  Buchanan  draws  special 
attention  to  the  fact  that  Bede  was  in  error. 


310  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


could  hardly  have  had  his  unqualified  approval. 
But  the  national  tradition  was  too  strong  for  him, 
and  he  has  no  words  of  blame  for  Malcolm's  nursing 
of  the  religion  which  as  a  reformer  he  was  bound  to 
detest.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  that  it 
seems  to  have  been  a  point  with  the  early  Scottish 
historians,  and  with  Buchanan  among  the  rest,  to 
say  the  best  they  could  of  their  kings.  Of  the 
immense  importance  of  the  English  immigration 
into  Scotland  during  David  T.'s  reign  Buchanan 
makes  no  more  than  either  Boece  or  Major.  He 
notes  the  fact  that  the  English  speech  then  began 
to  predominate  in  the  country ;  but  he  evidently 
thought  that  the  new-comers  hardly  brought  a 
blessing.  "  Malcolm,"  he  says,  "  made  all  but  fruit- 
less attempts  to  check  the  luxury,  which,  already 
prevailing  through  the  presence  of  multitudes  of 
English,  and  the  intercourse  with  other  countries, 
now,  through  the  entertainment  of  many  exiles  of 
English  race  over  the  whole  country,  began  to  be  a 
serious  evil."  Of  Donald  Bane,  the  usurper  who 
followed  Malcolm,  Buchanan  says,  "  that  all  good 
men,  who  revered  the  memory  of  Malcolm  and  Mar  - 
garet, detested  him  ".  It  is  curious  that  Buchanan 
should  thus  unconsciously  have  reprobated  in  Donald 
the  dying  struggle  of  that  Celtic  race  whose  glories 
he  was  so  fond  of  celebrating.  In  his  account  of 
David  I.,  Buchanan  faithfully  follows  Fordun  and 
Boece,  even  to  assigning  him  a  brilliant  victory  over 
the  English  at  Northallerton.  He  also  follows  the 
national  tradition  in  exalting  the  virtues  of  David  ; 
but  with  Boece  and  Major  he  is  disposed  to  question 
his  wisdom  in  so  lavishly  enriching  the  Church  at 
the  expense  of  the  Crown.    In  this  reference  he 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


311 


makes  kindlier  mention  of  Major  than  in  his  auto- 
biography, a,nd  seems  pleased  to  have  the  weight  of 
his  authority  on  his  side.  "John  Major/'  he  says, 
who  had  a  great  name  in  theology  when  I  was  a 
boy,  though  he  highly  eulogises  all  the  other  acts  of 
this  king,  yet  censures  him  (and  would  that  his 
censure  had  been  less  true)  for  this  prodigality 
towards  the  monasteries."  It  is  from  David  s  reign, 
Buchanan  thinks,  that  true  learning  and  true 
religion  in  the  Church  mainly  date  their  decline. 
With  reference  to  William  the  Lion's  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  feudal  superiority  of  England,  Buchanan 
makes  larger  admissions  than  his  predecessors.  It 
is  evident,  however,  that  he  does  so  sorely  against 
his  will.  After  making  the  admission  he  goes  on  to 
remark,  "  But  some  say  that  the  meeting  between 
William  and  Henry  had  not  for  its  object  the  ques- 
tion of  superiority,  but  the  payment  of  certain 
tributes,  and  the  surrender  of  certain  fortresses  till 
such  time  as  these  tributes  should  be  paid."  And 
he  proceeds  to  say  that,  in  view  of  the  treaty  after- 
wards renewed  by  William  and  Bichard,  this  opinion 
seems  to  him  nearer  the  truth. 

In  the  period  of  the  Wars  of  Independence 
Buchanan  found  materials  which  bring  out  his . 
strongest  points  as  a  historian.  Modern  research 
has  here,  as  elsewhere,  discredited  much  that  he  tells 
us.  We  can  now  only  smile  at  what  he  calls  the 
''ingenuous  reply"  made  to  Edward  i.  by  Bruce, 
the  rival  of  John  Baliol — "that  he  was  not  so 
desirous  of  reigning  as  to  curtail  the  inherited 
liberties  of  his  country  ".  But  his  narrative  of  the 
gallant  struggle  of  his  countrymen  against  England 
is  told  with  a  force  and  picturesqueness  which  prove 


312 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


that  he  put  his  full  strength  into  this  part  of  his 
work.  Buchanan  had  undoubtedly  something  of 
Scott's  eye  for  local  details,  and  in  his  descriptions 
of  battles  he  never  fails  to  present  a  careful  map  of 
the  field.  He  had  also  Scott's  own  relish  for  battle 
and  adventure.  Of  Wallace  and  Bruce  he  writes 
with  all  the  fervour  of  a  Scotsman,  convinced  that 
their  memory  is  his  country's  best  possession.  Such 
was  the  end  of  a  man,"  he  says  of  Wallace,  "  by  far 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived ; 
for  greatness  of  soul  in  undertaking  tasks  of  danger, 
and  for  courage  and  counsel  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  easily  comparable  to  the  most  famous  leaders 
of  antiquity;  second  to  none  in  affection  for  his 
country ;  who,  alone  a  freeman  among  slaves,  could 
neither  be  induced  by  rewards,  nor  constrained  by 
fear,  to  abandon  the  public  cause  which  he  had  once 
undertaken  to  defend;  whose  death  seemed  the 
more  deserving  of  commiseration,  that  while  he  was 
still  unconquered  by  the  enemy,  he  was  betrayed  by 
those  who  should  have  been  the  last  in  the  world  to 
have  proved  false."  His  portrait  of  Bruce  is  one  of 
the  classical  passages  of  his  History.  It  will  be  seen 
how  entirely  he  has  in  this  portrait  caught  the 
manner  of  the  ancients  :  ^ — 

"  To  put  as  shortly  as  possible  what  I  have  to 
say,  Robert  Bruce  was  certainly  a  man  in  every 
respect  of  the  very  highest  distinction,  and  one  to 
whom,  even  from  heroic  times,  we  shall  find  few 
equals  in  all  manner  of  virtue.  As  he  was  of  the 
first  courage  in  war,  so  in  peace  his  justice  and 
moderation  were  supreme  ;  and  although  unexpected 

^  "  Few  modern  histories  are  more  redolent  of  an  antique  air  than 
Buchanan's  History." — Hallam,  Lit.  Mid.  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  257.  (1842.) 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


313 


success,  and  (after  fortune  had  sated,  or  rather 
wearied,  herself  with  his  misfortunes)  an  unbroken 
series  of  victories  gave  a  noble  lustre  to  his  life,  yet 
in  his  adversity  he  seems  to  me  more  worthy  of 
admiration.  For  what  was  the  strength  of  that 
mind  which  was  not  to  be  overwhelmed,  nay,  not 
even  to  be  shaken,  by  the  united  attack  of  such  an 
army  of  ills  ?  What  that  constancy  which  was  not 
to  be  moved  by  a  wife  in  captivity,  four  brothers 
(all  men  of  the  most  sterling  courage)  cruelly  put 
to  death,  friends  vexed  at  one  and  the  same  time  by 
every  species  of  calamity,  those  who  were  able  to 
escape  with  life  exiles  and  beggared,  himself  not 
only  spoiled  of  his  own  ample  patrimonial  domain, 
but  of  his  kingdom,  by  a  prince  the  most  powerful 
of  those  times  and  the  most  prompt  in  counsel  and 
action  ?  Beset  at  one  time  by  all  these  evils,  and 
reduced  to  the  extremest  need,  he  never  doubted 
that  the  kingdom  should  one  day  be  his,  and  never 
said  or  did  aught  unbecoming  a  king.  He  neither, 
like  the  younger  Cato  nor  like  Marcus  Brutus,  laid 
violent  hands  on  himself,  nor  did  he,  like  Marius, 
driven  to  madness  by  his  calamities,  give  the  loose  to 
his  hatred  against  his  enemies.  For  when  he  had 
regained  his  ancient  condition,  he  lived  in  such  wise 
with  those  who  had  made  his  life  so  hard,  that  he 
seemed  to  remember  not  so  much  that  he  had  once 
been  their  enemy,  as  that  he  was  now  their  king. 
At  the  approach  of  his  end,  even  when  a  most  painful 
disease  made  more  grievous  his  failing  age,  he  was 
still  so  true  to  himself  that  he  put  on  a  stable 
foundation  the  existing  state  of  his  kingdom,  and 
made  careful  provision  for  the  tranquilHty  of  his 
descendants ;  so  that  for  most  excellent  reasons  did 


314 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


all  men  at  his  death  grieve  as  for  one  who  had  not 
been  only  a  just  king,  but  their  affectionate  parent." 

As  our  object  is  not  so  much  to  appraise 
Buchanan's  History  as  to  mark  his  own  character 
and  opinion  in  his  work,  we  give  other  two  quota- 
tions which  have  a  distinct  biographical  interest. 
In  his  account  of  Robert  iii.  he  makes  a  short 
digression  to  relate  the  exploits  of  the  Earl  of 
Buchan  in  France.  He  seldom  makes  such  digres- 
sions, and  when  he  does  so,  he  usually  thinks  it 
necessary  to  make  an  apology  to  his  readers.  The 
apology  on  this  occasion  is  that  "  the  detractions  of 
certain  English  writers  have  forced  him  into  it". 
"These  writers,"  he  proceeds,  ''enviously  seek  to 
throw  contempt  on  achievements  which  they  dare 
not  deny.  Even  if  history  were  silent,  the  magni- 
ficence of  kings,  the  decrees  of  states,  and  the  noble 
monuments  at  Orleans  and  Tours,  put  them  beyond 
question.  What  then  is  the  ground  of  the  cavil- 
ling ?  They  tell  us,  forsooth,  that  the  Scots  are  too 
poor  to  maintain  such  bodies  of  troops  abroad.  If 
they  deem  poverty  a  fault,  it  is  the  fault  of  the 
land  and  not  of  the  people.  Nor  should  I  have 
taken  it  as  a  reproach  had  these  writers  not  shown 
that  they  meant  it  as  such.  I  will  only  make  this 
reply — that  these  same  poor,  and  (as  they  will  have 
it)  needy  Scots,  have  gained  many  a  notable  victory 
over  the  wealthy  English.  If  they  do  not  take  my 
word  for  it,  let  them  take  that  of  their  own  his- 
torians. If  they  do  not  believe  what  their  own 
writers  have  written,  let  them  not  ask  us  to  do  so." 
But,  he  curtly  adds,  let  us  return  to  the  affairs  of 
the  Scots. 

The  other  passage  also  refers  to  what  Buchanan 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


315 


considered  English  lies"  regarding  Scottish  history. 
On  this  occasion  his  wrath  is  especially  directed 
against  Hall  and  his  plagiarist  Grafton "  ^  for 
charging  James  i.  with  base  ingratitude  to  the 
English  king  in  marrying  his  daughter  to  the 
Dauphin,  afterwards  Louis  xi.  of  France.  These 
writers  had  maintained  that  in  educating  James, 
and  afterwards  supplying  him  with  a  wife,  Henry  iv. 
had  put  the  Scottish  king  under  a  lifelong  debt  of 
gratitude.  In  view  of  the  real  circumstances  of  the 
case,  Buchanan  naturally  thought  these  statements 
somewhat  barefaced,  and  gives  us  a  specimen  of  his 
most  pungent  style.  He  closes  his  digression  as 
follows  :  "  But  leaving  these  half-instructed  men, 
who  forget  all  moderation  and  modesty  in  their 
writings,  to  count  favours  received  as  benefits  con- 
ferred, what  must  we  think  of  the  lying  effrontery, 
the  unbridled  slanders,  which  they  permit  them- 
selves in  speaking  of  the  daughter  of  the  same 
king  (James  i.)  ?  These  writers  tell  us  (for  against 
her  character,  insolent  though  they  are,  they  did 
not  dare  to  imagine  a  charge)  that  this  princess 
was  displeasing  to  her  husband  by  reason  of  her 
mal- odorous  breath.  But  Monstrelet,  a  contem- 
porary writer,  relates  that  she  was  both  virtuous 
and  beautiful ;  and  the  author  of  the  Pluscardine 
Book,  who  accompanied  the  queen  on  her  voyage, 
and  was  present  at  her  death,  has  left  it  on  record, 
that  as  long  as  she  lived  she  was  much  beloved  by 
her  father-in-law,  mother-in-law,  and  husband ;  as 
indeed  appears  by  her  epitaph  at  Chalons  on  the 
Marne  (where  she  died),  a  poem  ascribing  to  her 

^  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  Latin  expression  here  is  the  same  as 
that  in  Buchanan's  letter  to  Eandolph  quoted  above. 


316 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


every  virtue,  and  which,  translated  into  the  Scots 
tongue,  is  in  the  possession  of  most  of  our  countrymen 
at  the  present  day.  But  leaving  these  slanderers  of 
another  people's  reputation,  who  are  yet  so  careless 
of  their  own  that  they  pay  as  little  heed  to  what 
they  say  of  others  as  to  what  others  say  of  them, — 
let  us  proceed  to  the  subject  in  hand." 

Buchanan's  account  of  the  reign  of  James  iii., 
through  no  fault  of  his  own,  is  of  less  value  than 
his  account  of  the  other  Jameses,^  but  it  contains 
the  most  famous  passage  in  his  whole  History — the 
speech  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Bishop  Kennedy. 
This  speech  of  Kennedy,  and  that  of  Morton  in  the 
twentieth  book,  embody  Buchanan's  political  creed, 
and,  taken  together,  they  are  simply  another  state- 
ment of  the  doctrines  of  the  De  Jure  Regni.  It 
may  be  said  that  they  also  give  us  the  measure  of 
the  very  limited  circle  of  political  ideas  familiar  to 
Buchanan.  As  the  oration  of  Kennedy  fills  rather 
more  than  three  folio  pages  it  cannot  be  produced 
here.  The  point  to  which  the  bishop  addresses 
himself  is  the  expediency  of  appointing  the  queen- 
mother  as  Regent  during  the  minority  of  James  iii. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  Buchanan  is  of  exactly 
the  same  mind  as  Knox  with  regard  to  "  the 
regiment  of  women".  In  the  bishop's  speech  he 
had  doubtless  the  nation's  experiences  of  Mary  in 
his  thoughts,  but  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  think 
that  these  experiences  determined  his  opinions.  The 
two  arguments  he  ascribes  to  Kennedy — that  female 
rule  is  at  once  contrary  to  nature  and  to  Scottish 
tradition — were  in  fact  what  as  a  Scotsman  and  an 

1  The  publication  of  the  Foedera  Anglica  discredited  both  Buchanan's 
and  Lesley's  account  of  this  reign. — Tytler,  Historij  of  Scotland  (Notes 
and  Illustrations.    Letter  P,  vol.  ii.). 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


317 


admirer  of  the  ancients,  he  was  bound  to  maintain. 
It  deserves  to  be  noted  that  Buchanan  bestows  the 
highest  eulogy  on  Kennedy,  in  this  case  as  in  others 
showing  that  his  religious  convictions  did  not  blind 
him,  as  they  blinded  Knox,  to  merit  in  those  of 
another  faith  from  his  own.  With  an  evident 
reference  to  Major,  he  says  "  that  Kennedy  caused 
a  magnificent  tomb  to  be  erected  to  himself  at  St. 
Andrews,  which  the  malignity  of  men  grudged  him, 
though  as  a  private  citizen  he  had  deserved  well 
of  most,  and,  as  a  statesman,  of  all".^ 

From  the  reign  of  James  i v. ,  Buchanan's  History 
assumes  the  special  interest  of  a  contemporary  narra- 
tive. What  he  henceforth  has  to  say  is  either  from 
direct  personal  knowledge,  or  from  the  information 
of  men  who  had  such  knowledge.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  in  all  the  years  which  he  spent  in 
Scotland,  he  was  at  the  very  centre  of  the  nation's 
life.  As  a  youth  he  had  studied  at  St.  Andrews, 
in  his  second  sojourn  in  Scotland  he  was  in  the 
closest  contact  with  the  Court  itself,  and  in  the 
last  years  of  his  life  he  was  himself  a  public  man  who 
had  his  own  share  in  the  great  events  of  his  time. 
As  one  who  had  had  daily  intercourse  with  Mary, 
who  was  intimate  with  Moray,  Lennox,  Mar,  Knox, 
and  other  leaders  of  the  people,  his  narrative  must 
needs  have  an  importance  which  it  would  be  a  serious 
mistake  to  undervalue.  In  his  account  of  his  own 
century,  Buchanan  puts  before  us  the  construction 
of  its  main  tendencies  as  they  appeared  to  the  party 
to  which  he  belonged.  Such  a  statement  from  a  man 

1  Major  speaks  thus  of  Kennedy  :  "  Duo  in  viro  non  laudo,  scilicet 
commendam  cum  tali  episcopatu  tenuisse,  licet  exigua  erat ;  nec 
sepulchri  sumptuositatem  approbo." — De  Gestis  Scoiorum,  lib.  vi. 
cap.  19. 


318 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


of  Buchanan's  powers  of  mind,  with  his  wide  ex- 
perience of  men  and  things,  and  intense  interest  in 
the  great  movements  of  life,  puts  us  in  a  far  truer 
relation  to  his  century  than  any  modern  reconstruc- 
tion we  may  base  on  piles  of  State  documents.  It 
is  the  drawback  of  such  documents,  that  in  present- 
ing us,  it  may  be,  with  unquestionable  facts,  they 
give  us  the  mere  death-mask,  not  the  living  features, 
of  the  past. 

In  his   account    of  the  reign  of  James  iv. 
Buchanan  thrice  specially  vouches  for  his  facts  on 
the  evidence  of  contemporaries.    In  each  of  the 
three  cases  it  will  be  seen  that  a  special  voucher 
was  certainly  called  for.    The  first  is  his  descrip- 
tion of  "  a  new  kind  of  monster  born  in  Scotland", 
which  would  appear  to  have  been  an  anticipation  of 
the  Siamese  twins.    The  King,  he  tells  us,  took  a 
great  interest  in  the  creature,  and  had  it  taught 
several  languages,  and  also  music,  "in  which  it 
made   wonderful   progress".      "Concerning  this 
affair,"  Buchanan  adds,  "  I  speak  with  the  greater 
confidence,  that  many  honest  men  are  still  alive 
who  saw  these  things."    It  is  a  quaint  circumstance 
that  Buchanan,  a  man  with  all  the  culture  of  the 
age  in  his  head,  should  thus  break  his  stately  nar- 
rative of  the  nation's  destinies  to  give  a  minute 
description  of  this  wretched  abortion.    But  the 
notable  cases  of  Melanchthon  and  Bodin  remind  us 
that  this  curiosity  in  the  monstrosities  of  nature 
was  a  weakness  of  the  best  spirits  of  the  sixteenth 
century.    The  above,  it  should  be  said,  is  only  the 
best  example  of  many  of  the  same  type  to  be  found 
in  Buchanan's  History.     More  interesting  is  his 
reference  to  Sir  David  Lyndsay  as  his  authority  for 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


319 


the  story  of  the  apparition  in  Linlithgow  Church 
warning  James  iv.  against  his  fatal  expedition  into 
England.  "  Among  those  present,"  he  says,  "  was 
David  Lyndsay  of  the  Mount,  a  man  of  noted 
honesty  and  veracity,  devoted  to  learning,  and 
whose  whole  life  showed  how  utterly  incapable  he 
was  of  a  lie."  Buchanan's  intercourse  with  Lynd- 
say must  belong  to  the  period  when  he  was  acting 
as  tutor  to  the  natural  son  of  James.  This  glimpse 
of  the  actual  contact  of  the  two  brightest  geniuses 
of  their  day  in  Scotland,  with  this  quaint  specimen 
of  their  talk,  is  as  if  we  caught  the  sudden  glance 
of  an  eye,  or  felt  the  living  touch  of  a  hand  from 
out  the  depths  of  the  past.  Speaking  of  the  various 
stories  that  went  regarding  the  fate  of  James  iv., 
he  also  says,  "  However  it  may  have  gone  with 
him,  I  have  thought  that  I  should  not  keep  back 
what  I  have  heard  more  than  once  from  Lawrence 
Tallifer,  a  man  of  learning  and  virtue.  He  used  to 
tell  (for  as  one  of  the  King's  pages  he  was  a  spectator 
of  the  battle)  that  when  the  fortune  of  the  day  was 
decided,  he  saw  the  King  mount  a  horse,  and  cross 
the  Tweed."  Buchanan  was  seven  years  old  when 
Flodden  was  lost,  and  his  story  of  the  battle  and 
its  fateful  consequences  to  Scotland  has  a  peculiar 
interest  as  the  expression  of  the  mingled  grief  and 
shame  and  indignation  which  the  memory  of  that 
day  awoke  in  every  Scotsman.  "  Such  was  that 
famous  fight  at  Flodden,"  he  says  with  a  pathetic 
pride  that  touches  the  heart  of  a  Scotsman  even  to 
the  present  day,  "memorable  among  the  few  de- 
feats sustained  by  the  Scottish  nation,  not  so  much 
by  reason  of  the  numbers  slain  (for  in  other  battles 
double  the  numbers  were  lost),  as  that  by  the 


320 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


destruction  of  the  King  and  his  nobles,  few  re- 
mained to  rule  a  populace  fierce  by  nature,  and 
unrestrained  by  the  dread  of  punishment." 

From  the  battle  of  Flodden  onwards,  Buchanan  s 
History  of  necessity  becomes  more  deeply  tinged 
with  personal  feeling.  On  the  feuds  of  the  houses 
of  Lennox  and  Hamilton  it  was  impossible  that  a 
man  with  Buchanan's  character  and  connections 
should  speak  with  judicial  impartiality.  It  was 
during  this  period  also  that  the  struggle  between 
the  old  and  the  new  religions  began,  and  Buchanan 
wrote  of  that  struggle  at  a  time  when  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  strife  was  still  at  its  height.  Moreover, 
his  long  absence  from  Scotland  made  it  necessary 
that  he  should  take  much  of  his  narrative  from  men 
who  would  put  their  own  construction  on  the  facts 
with  which  they  supplied  him.  Of  the  secret  deal- 
ings with  the  Courts  of  England  and  France,  which 
so  powerfully  affected  the  course  of  Scottish  affairs, 
Buchanan  could  only  have  had  the  most  imperfect 
knowledge.  Thus,  his  account  of  the  policy  of  such 
nobles  as  the  Earls  of  Lennox  and  Cassillis,  whom 
he  did  not  know  to  have  been  so  deeply  pledged 
to  Henry  viii.,  could  be  given  in  all  good  faith, 
being  as  he  was  in  complete  ignorance  of  the  real 
position  in  which  these  nobles  stood.  ^ 

When  all  these  deductions  have  been  made, 
however,  the  fact  remains  that  Buchanan's  History 
of  his  own  time  is  the  honest  attempt  to  produce  a 

^  Considering  the  severe  judgments  passed  by  Pinkerton,  Tytler, 
and  others  on  the  prejudiced  inaccuracy  of  this  period  of  Buchanan's 
History,  it  is  remarkable  that  Professor  Brewer,  on  the  authority  of  the 
State  Papers  of  Henry  viii.,  is  able  to  say  that  "  Buchanan's  informa- 
tion for  this  portion  of  his  History  was  evidently  derived  from  trust- 
worthy sources". — Reign  of  Henry  VIII.  vol.  i.  p.  557.  The  above 
paragraph  was  written  before  I  met  with  this  statement  of  Brewer. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND.  321 

narrative  sucli  as  he  believed  would  be  finally- 
accepted  as  just  and  true.  Partisan  though  he  is, 
Buchanan's  estimates  of  the  chief  personages  of  his 
time  in  Scotland  display  a  studious  attempt  to  be 
fair,  even  where  his  antipathies  are  strongest.  Thus 
the  character  he  has  given  of  Arran,  the  head  of 
the  detested  Hamiltons,  is  that  accepted  by  histo- 
rians of  the  most  different  ways  of  thinking.  Nor 
could  we  wish  anything  fairer  than  his  final  judg- 
ment on  the  Queen-Regent,  Mary  of  Lorraine.  We 
have  but  to  compare  Buchanan's  summing  up  of 
her  character  and  policy  with  the  expressions  of 
Knox  on  the  same  subject,  to  see  the  wide  dif- 
ference in  spirit  and  method  between  the  two 
champions  of  the  same  faith.  Of  Cardinal  Beaton 
Buchanan  never  speaks  but  with  the  utmost  scorn 
and  indignation.  We  have  seen  Beaton's  deliberate 
attempts  both  in  Scotland  and  elsewhere  to  have 
Buchanan  disposed  of  as  a  heretic.  Buchanan  had 
therefore  special  reasons  for  entertaining  no  kindly 
feelings  towards  the  great  Cardinal.  But,  apart 
from  personal  feeling,  Buchanan  had  certainly  ample 
justification  in  denouncing  Beaton  as  the  most  un- 
scrupulous public  man  of  his  day  in  Scotland.  A 
recent  discovery  has  shown  that  Beaton  was  cap- 
able, to  the  full,  of  all  that  his  worst  enemies  laid 
to  his  charge.  Buchanan,  as  well  as  Knox,  relates 
that  on  the  death  of  James  v.  the  Cardinal  pro- 
duced a  forged  will,  in  which  James  was  made 
to  appoint  himself  and  three  others  as  tutors  or 
guardians  to  the  infant  Queen.  By  this  arrange- 
ment the  chief  power  in  the  country  would  have 
been  placed  in  Beaton's  hands.  This  story  has 
been  questioned  by  certain  writers,  though  it  was 

X 


322 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


confirmed  by  the  positive  testimony  of  the  Kegent 
Arran.-^  But  the  recent  discovery  of  the  forged 
instrument  among  the  Hamilton  papers  now  places 
Beaton's  guilt  beyond  question.^  It  should  be  said 
that  Buchanan's  method  all  through  his  History  is 
in  the  first  place  to  present  his  own  opinion  with 
all  the  clearness  and  emphasis  of  which  he  is  master. 
Where  he  was  aware  that  wide  difference  of  opinion 
existed  regarding  any  person  or  event,  some  letter 
or  speech  is  introduced  which  exhibits  the  argu- 
ments of  the  other  side.  These  arguments  certainly 
lose  nothing  of  their  force  as  he  states  them.  It 
is  evident,  indeed,  that  it  is  a  matter  of  conscience 
with  him  to  put  the  case  of  his  adversaries  in  the 
best  light.  The  most  notable  example  of  this  is 
the  message  that  Mary  is  made  to  put  into  the 
mouth  of  her  French  envoy  after  her  marriage  with 
Both  well.  All  that  can  be  said  for  Mary  is  there 
put  with  a  force  and  ingenuity  which  none  of  her 
modern  advocates  has  surpassed. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  from  Buchanan's 
sketch  of  his  own  time  we  gain  no  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  significance  and  scope  of  the  great 
Protestant  revolution  in  Scotland.  Of  this  the 
best  evidence  is  the  strangely  insignificant  place  his 
narrative  assigns  to  Knox.  For  us,  Knox  is  by  far 
the  most  important  figure  of  his  time  in  Scotland. 
In  Buchanan's  History  his  name  occurs  only  four 
times,  the  reference  on  each  occasion  being  of  the 
most  casual  kind.  He  is  first  mentioned  as  de- 
nouncing the  impiety  of  his  fellow-inmates  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Andrews  previous  to  its  capture  by  the 

^  Tytler,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  chap.  i. 

2  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission.  The  Manuscripts  of  the 
Duke  of  Hamilton,  K.T.,  pp.  205-220.  The  editor  regards  the  forgery  as 
incontestable. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


323 


French.    We  next  hear  of  him  in  1559  as  addressing 
his  famous  sermon  to  the  inhabitants  of  Perth.  He 
is  again  referred  to  as  dehvering  an  excellent 
sermon "  ^  at  Stirling  in  the  same  year,  which  had 
the  effect  "  of  uplifting  the  minds  of  many  with  the 
sure  hope  of  a  speedy  escape  from  present  evils 
Lastly,  at  the  coronation  of  James  vi.  he  is  again 
represented  as  delivering     an  excellent  sermon 
On  each  occasion  the  reference  made  to  him  is  con- 
tained in  a  single  sentence.     As  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  Knox  in  his  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion speaks  of  Buchanan  in  the  most  respectful  and 
admiring  terms,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  Buchanan  of  deliberate  intention  kept  silence 
regarding  the  great  part  played  by  Knox  among  his 
contemporaries.     The  truth  probably  is  that  in 
Buchanan's  eyes  Knox  was  not  the  commanding 
figure  he  now  appears  to  us.     By  their  contempo- 
raries, indeed,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Buchanan, 
with  his  European  reputation,  was  considered  much 
the  more  distinguished  man  of  the  two.    It  is  more 
probable  than  not  that  for  Buchanan,  with  his 
humanistic  instincts  and  his  scholar's  training,  there 
was  much  in  Knox  that   repelled   rather  than 
attracted  him.    That  a  popular  preacher  and  (as 
he  must  have  regarded  him)  a  somewhat  ignorant 
theologian  should  be  reckoned  a  great  historic 
figure,  would  probably  have  appeared  to  Buchanan 
as  something  of  an  absurdity.^ 

^  Concio  luculenta  is  the  phrase. 

2  Buchanan's  History  ends  before  the  death  of  Knox.  In  his  edition 
of  Knox's  History  Mr.  David  Laing  points  out  that  the  reformer  in  all 
probability  obtained  from  Buchanan  his  account  of  the  death  of 
Francis  ii.  Mr.  Laing  was  also  of  opinion  that  the  Scots  translation  of 
the  Latin  verses  in  the  same  passage  was  supplied  to  Knox  by 
Buchanan.  The  Scots  version  would  certainly  do  no  discredit  to 
Buchanan. — Laing's  Knox,  vol.  ii.  pp.  134-136. 


324 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


In  the  twentieth  and  last  book  of  Buchanan's 
History  the  most  notable  and  characteristic  passage 
is  the  speech  of  Morton  before  Elizabeth  s  Council, 
in  which  he  justifies  the  proceedings  of  James's 
supporters  against  Mary.  As  the  speech  is  mainly  a 
reproduction  of  the  arguments  of  theDe  JureRegni,  it 
is  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  here.  In  Buchanan's 
narrative  Morton  is  represented  as  restating  this 
defence  before  the  Convention  of  Estates  on  his 
return  to  Scotland.  Since  Buchanan,  as  Keeper 
of  the  Privy  Seal,  sat  as  a  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion, it  is  possible  that  he  may  have  been  present 
when  Morton  gave  the  account  of  his  mission. 
We  know,  indeed,  from  the  comparison  of  other 
reports  given  by  Buchanan  that  in  the  case  of  con- 
temporaries these  long  speeches  are  really  based  on 
what  was  actually  said.  The  speech  of  Morton 
may  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  manifesto  of  the 
King's  party,  and  as  possessing  a  real  historic  value, 
in  placing  the  policy  of  the  Protestant  party  in  the 
best  light  of  which  it  was  capable. 

Buchanan's  History  closes  with  the  death  of  the 
Regent  Lennox  and  the  appointment  of  his  suc- 
cessor Mar.  As  in  November  1579  his  work  still 
engaged  him,  the  pen  would  seem  literally  to  have 
fallen  from  his  hand.  Had  he  been  able  to  continue 
his  narrative  over  the  Regency  of  Morton,  it  is  pro- 
bable that  he  would  not  have  spared  that  nobleman, 
of  whose  policy  he  so  strongly  disapproved.-^  His 
work  was  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1582,  the  very 

^  Buchanan  disapproved  of  Morton's  policy,  but  it  appears  that  he 
had  also  reasons  for  personal  dislike  of  the  Eegent.  Certain  of  his 
merciless  critics,  therefore,  suggested  that  he  closed  his  History  where 
he  did  that  Morton  might  not  have  a  place  in  his  work.  But,  as  Irving 
has  said,  "  the  completion  of  his  History  and  the  termination  of  his  life 
took  place  about  the  very  same  period". — Memoirs  of  Buchanan^  p.  303. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


325 


year  of  his  death.  The  next  year  another  edition 
was  published  at  Geneva,  and  the  year  following 
a  third  at  Frankfort.  Four  editions  in  all  appeared 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  nine  in  the  seven- 
teenth, and  three  in  the  eighteenth — the  last  in 
1762.  A  translation  into  Scots  was  made  by  John 
Reid  or  Reed,  who  is  described  by  Calderwood  as 
"servitur  and  writer  to  Mr.  George  Buchanan". 
Many  translations  continued  to  be  made  both  in 
England  and  Scotland  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  An  English  translation  pub- 
lished in  1690  passed  through  no  fewer  than  seven 
editions.  As  Buchanan  anticipated,  his  work  was 
received  with  indignation  by  a  certain  section  of 
his  countrymen.  Even  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
writers  of  opposite  political  views  from  his  own 
accused  him  of  manipulating  Scottish  history  to 
support  his  own  theories,  and  to  justify  the  party 
to  which  he  belonged.  As  we  know,  historians  of 
a  later  day  than  Buchanan's  have  been  accused  of 
similar  motives  without  being  stigmatised  as  mis- 
creants. But  in  the  heated  political  controversies 
of  the  last  century,  Buchanan's  hereditary  opponents 
did  not  stop  short  of  this.  It  has  already  been 
told  that  Buchanan  s  History  and  De  Jure  Regni 
were  condemned  by  Parliament  in  1584.  His 
pupil  James,  as  was  to  be  expected,  regarded  his 
master's  work  with  horror,  and  lost  no  occasion  of 
denouncing  its  untrustworthiness  as  a  record  of 
Scottish  affairs.  When  he  recommends  his  son 
Henry  to  read  the  history  of  his  own  country,  he 
warns  him  that  it  must  not  be  "  those  scandalous 
libels  of  Buchanan,  which  whoever  may  have  in  his 
hands,  even  in  your  days,  let  him  feel  the  weight  of 


326  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


my  laws".  James  is  probably  responsible  for  a 
story  told  by  Camden/  to  the  effect  that  as  his 
death  approached  Buchanan  expressed  his  sorrow 
for  having  maligned  Mary.  What  truth  is  in  this 
story  will  be  seen  from  the  testimony,  afterwards  to 
be  quoted,  of  one  who  had  certainly  the  best  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing.^ 

By  his  contemporaries  Buchanan's  History  was 
regarded  as  a  work  of  the  first  order.  Even  into 
the  eighteenth  century  it  was  seriously  debated 
whether  Caesar,  or  Livy,  or  Sallust  was  to  be  con- 
sidered his  model.  By  almost  universal  consent  he 
was  acknowledged  to  have  equalled  or  even  sur- 
passed his  masters.  But  the  finest  contemporary 
tribute  paid  to  Buchanan's  work  is  that  of  de  Thou, 
whose  opinion  carries  the  greater  weight  that  his 
own  History  of  his  time  was  long  the  source  at 
which  every  practical  statesman  sought  political 
wisdom.  "  In  his  old  age,"  he  says,  "  Buchanan 
undertook  a  History,  which  he  wrote  with  such 
purity,  sagacity,  and  insight  (although  from  that 
inborn  love  of  liberty,  peculiar  to  his  nation,  some- 
what severe  on  the  pride  of  kings),  that  his  work 
seems  the  production,  not  of  one  trained  in  the  dust 
of  the  schools,  but  of  one  who  has  passed  his  life  in 
the  conduct  of  affairs  ".^  Archbishop  Usher  also  said 
"  that  no  one  had  investigated  his  country's  anti- 
quities more  thoroughly  than  Buchanan".*  This 
note  of  praise  was  maintained  for  fully  a  century  and 
a  half  after  his  death ;  and  the  following  passage 
from  Dryden  shows  in  what  estimation  Buchanan's 
History  was  held  a  century  after  its  publication  : — 

1  Annates,  vol.  i.  p.  130  (Hearne's  ed.)  ^       next  chapter. 

^  Hist,  sui  Temporis,  vol.  iv.  p.  99. 

^  Epist.  de  Brit.  Ecdes.  Primordiis,  c.  16. 


HIS  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


327 


"  Buchanan,  for  the  purity  of  his  Latin,  and  for  his 
learning,  and  for  all  other  endowments  belonging  to 
an  historian,  might  be  placed  among  the  greatest,  if 
he  had  not  leaned  too  much  to  prejudice,  and  too 
manifestly  declared  himself  a  party  of  a  cause, 
rather  than  an  historian  of  it.  Excepting  only  that 
(which  I  desire  not  to  urge  too  far  in  so  great  a 
man,  but  only  to  give  caution  to  his  readers  con- 
cerning it),  our  isle  may  justly  boast  in  him  a 
writer  comparable  to  any  of  the  moderns,  and  ex- 
celled by  few  of  the  ancients."  ^  Such  being  the 
fame  of  Buchanan  and  his  work,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  the  history  of  Scotland  became  a  subject  of 
interest  to  educated  Europe.  What  Scott  did  for 
his  country  in  the  nineteenth  century,  Buchanan 
did  as  effectively  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth. 
In  the  present  century  Buchanan's  classical  Latin 
stands  him  in  little  stead,  and  his  work  is  now 
estimated  on  its  bare  merits  as  a  national  record. 
As  such,  it  has  met  with  but  scant  approval 
even  from  writers  most  kindly  disposed  to  him. 

Buchanan's  History,"  says  Hill  Burton,  "stands 
among  those  remarkable  instances  where  the 
author's  estimate  of  his  own  works  is  inverted  by 
public  opinion.  His  Psalms,  and  all  the  poetry  for 
which  his  name  is  illustrious,  he  spoke  of  as  fugitive 
trifles  when  weighed  with  that  efibrt  which  is  of 
little  more  use  and  value  than  as  a  bulky  exercise 
in  the  composition  of  classical  Latin."  ^  For  all 
popular  purposes  Buchanan's  History  is  for  ever 
superseded  ;  but  to  speak  of  it  "as  of  no  more  use 

1  Dryden,  Life  of  Plutarch.  ( WorTcs,  vol.  xvii.  p.  58,  Scott's  edit., 
Edin.  1821.) 

2  History  of  Scotland^  vol.  v.  p.  479,  ed.  1870.  Burton  expresses  a 
somewhat  different  opinion  elsewhere  {ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  101  note,  ed.  1872). 


328 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


and  value  than  as  a  bulky  exercise  in  the  composi- 
tion of  Latin  "  is  a  somewhat  unguarded  expression. 
A  work  which  could  call  forth  such  judgments  as 
those  of  men  like  de  Thou  and  Dry  den  must  always 
remain  something  more  than  what  Burton  calls  it. 
Moreover,  as  has  already  been  more  than  once 
stated,  Buchanan's  narrative  can  never  be  neglected 
by  any  one  who  wishes  to  place  himself  in  contact 
with  the  mind  and  heart  of  Scotland  during  the 
sixteenth  century. 

But  granting  Burton's  judgment  to  be  correct, 
it  still  remains  the  fact  that  few  histories  have 
maintained  a  permanence  of  interest  to  be  com- 
pared with  Buchanan's.  If  we  put  the  classical 
histories  aside,  which  owe  their  perennial  interest  to 
many  other  reasons  besides  their  intrinsic  literary 
value,  it  is  astonishingly  few  of  which  it  can  be  said 
that  they  have  been  read  with  interest  by  educated 
Europe  for  nearly  two  centuries.  Yet  this  was  the 
fortune  of  Buchanan's  History  of  Scotland — the 
materials  of  which,  be  it  remarked,  possessed  in 
themselves  no  superiority  of  interest  or  importance. 
We  shall  best  judge  of  the  significance  of  this 
statement,  if  we  remember  what  place  is  now  held 
by  the  famous  Histories  of  Buchanan's  countrymen, 
Hume  and  Bobertson.  These  Histories  were  re- 
garded by  contemporaries  as  in  the  highest  order 
of  their  kind.  Yet  the  single  century  that  has 
elapsed  since  their  appearance  has  effaced  them  as 
completely  as  the  Latin  History  of  Buchanan. 
Nay,  for  the  purpose  of  the  specialist,  Buchanan's 
History  must  at  the  present  day  be  deemed  of 
higher  value  than  the  Histories  of  Bobertson  and 
Hume. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  Buchanan  counted 
among  his  correspondents  men  of  the  first  rank  in 
letters  and  affairs.  Without  some  acquaintance 
with  his  correspondence,  therefore,  we  can  hardly 
form  an  adequate  estimate  of  the  place  he  held  in 
the  minds  of  his  contemporaries.  In  the  case  of 
Buchanan,  also,  his  correspondence  is  specially 
needed  for  a  fair  judgment  of  his  character.  His 
set  literary  performances  are  either  purely  imper- 
sonal, such  as  his  poem  on  the  Sphere,  or  merely 
conventional,  such  as  a  large  number  of  his  minor 
poems,  or,  lastly,  controversial,  as  the  De  Jure 
Regni.  In  comparatively  little  of  his  work,  prose  or 
verse,  does  he  speak  without  some  disturbing  mo- 
tive that  partially  obscures  him  behind  mere  tem- 
porary circumstance.  In  his  letters  we  see  him  in 
his  relation  with  friends  or  sympathisers ;  and  both 
from  his  own  and  those  of  his  correspondents  we 
receive  an  impression  which  in  many  respects 
exhibits  him  in  an  entirely  new  light.  If  we 
may  judge  from  the  few  that  have  come  down  to 
us,  Buchanan's  letters  differ  from  the  typical  letters 
of  the  humanists  in  not  being  mere  exercises  in 

329 


330 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


imitation  of  Cicero  or  Pliny.  In  all  of  them  he 
has  something  to  say,  and  he  says  it  shortly  and 
pointedly,  with  none  of  that  flourish  of  phrase 
which  the  humanists  were  apt  to  aflPect.  Those  of  his 
letters  which  we  possess  were  all  written  after  his 
final  return  to  Scotland,  and  this  may  partly  account 
for  the  fact  that  they  contain  none  of  those  sallies 
we  naturally  look  for  in  the  correspondence  of  a 
man  like  Buchanan.  "  Calm  of  mind,  all  passion 
spent,"  is  their  prevailing  note.  Yet,  at  the  same 
time,  they  leave  us  with  the  clearest  impression  of 
an  essentially  elevated  and  benignant  nature.  Only 
such  a  nature  could  have  preserved  in  the  most 
advanced  age  and  broken  health  the  genial  interest 
which  Buchanan  never  failed  to  show  in  his  young 
fellow-countrymen.  It  will  be  seen  that  often  his 
sole  motive  in  taking  up  his  pen  was  either  to  en- 
courage them  in  the  pursuit  of  learning  and  virtue, 
or  to  commend  them  to  the  interest  of  his  friends 
abroad. 

In  Kuddiman's  edition  of  Buchanan's  Correspon- 
dence, there  are  forty-one  letters  in  all,  of  which 
only  fourteen  are  Buchanan's  own.  From  his  own 
words  we  gather  that  he  must  have  written  many 
more.  As  they  were  in  Latin,  however,  we  have 
not  perhaps  the  same  reason  to  regret  their  loss. 
What  we  must  regret  is,  that  only  two  in  Scots  have 
been  preserved.^  In  selecting  for  translation  the 
letters  that  follow,  we  shall  be  guided  solely  by  their 
biographical  value. 

The  following  letter  to  Pierre  Daniel,  a  French 
scholar  of  some  repute,  and  one  of  Buchanan's 

^  Only  one  of  these  is  given  in  Kuddiman.  See  his  General  Intro- 
duction to  his  edition  of  Buchanan's  Works. 


HLS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


331 


most  respected  friends,  is  dated  Edinburgh,  1566. 

What  with  ill-health  and  my  duties  at  Court,  I 
have  hardly  been  able  to  steal  a  moment  either  for 
my  friends  or  myself.  Hence  my  rare  letters  to  my 
friends,  as  also  the  fact  that  my  poems  are  still  un- 
collected. As  far  as  I  myself  am  concerned,  I  made 
no  great  efforts  to  preserve  them.  The  truth  is, 
that  their  subjects  are  mostly  so  trifling,  that  now, 
in  my  old  age,  I  am  half  ashamed  and  half  chagrined 
at  ever  having  written  them.  At  the  importunities 
of  friends  (Pierre  Mondore  in  special),  however,  to 
whom  I  neither  can  nor  should  refuse  what  they  ask, 
I  have  at  odd  times  brought  together  some  of  my 
poems,  and  arranged  them  under  different  heads. 
At  present  I  send  you  one  book  of  Elegies,  one  of 
Silvae,  and  one  of  Hendecasyllabics.  Pray  be  good 
enough  to  show  them  at  your  leisure  to  Mondor^  or 
de  Mesmes,  and  other  learned  friends,  and  do  nothing 
without  their  advice.  I  hope  some  day  soon  to  send 
you  a  book  of  Iambics,  one  of  Epigrams,  and  another 
of  Odes,  and  perhaps  some  other  pieces  of  the  same 
kind.  These  also  I  should  like  you  to  submit  to 
our  friends,  as  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  be 
guided  by  their  judgment  rather  than  my  own.  I 
have  corrected  many  errata  in  my  Psalter,  and  have 
also  made  certain  changes  in  my  text.  When  you 
treat  with  Estienne,  therefore,  you  will  tell  him  not 
to  issue  a  new  edition  without  consulting  me.  I 
have  not  had  leisure  to  complete  my  second  book  of 
the  Sphere,  so  that  I  have  not  as  yet  made  a  copy 
of  the  first." 

This  letter  was  addressed  to  Daniel  in  Orleans, 
where,  it  would  appear,  there  was  a  colony  of 
Scotsmen.     In  the  letter  addressed  to  Buchanan 


332  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


from  Orleans,  following  the  one  just  quoted,  the 
writer  says  that  he  is  on  intimate  terms  with 
Gordon,  Cunningham,  Guthrie,  and  other  Scottish 
youths  devotedly  attached  to  Buchanan".  On 
the  strength  of  his  acquaintance  with  Buchanan's 
friends,  he  asks  him  for  any  emendation  of  the  text 
of  Caesar  that  may  have  occurred  to  him.  Failing 
Caesar,  his  correspondent  will  be  glad  to  have  sug- 
gestions regarding  the  text  of  any  Latin  author. 
In  return  for  this  favour,  he  undertakes  to  keep 
Buchanan  informed  on  matters  of  general  interest, 
although,  he  adds,  this  is  somewhat  unnecessary,  as 
"  many  correspondents  are  continually  in  communi- 
cation with  you".  Buchanan's  astronomical  poem,  he 
also  tells  him,  is  eagerly  expected  by  everybody. 

Buchanan's  next  letter  is  addressed  to  Daniel 
Rogers,  an  ardent  Protestant,  and  a  person  of  some 
standing  at  the  English  Court,  as  is  proved  by  his 
frequent  embassies  to  the  Continent.  He  seems  to 
have  been  one  of  Buchanan's  closest  friends,  and 
Buchanan  exchanged  more  letters  with  him  than 
with  any  other  of  his  correspondents.  The  following 
letter  refers  to  the  proposed  marriage  between 
Elizabeth  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  it  shows  the 
keen  interest  Buchanan  took  in  the  political  life  of 
the  day.  It  is  dated  Leith,  1571.  "I  received 
your  letter  three  months  after  it  was  written — for 
which  very  many  thanks.  As  occasion  serves  you,  I 
wish  you  would  keep  me  informed  of  the  state  of 
affairs  in  France.  Although  the  new  match  is  now 
given  out  almost  for  a  certainty,  I  cannot  think 
that  it  will  really  take  place.  Such  ill  results  must 
follow  this  marriage,  that  France  and  England 
both  could  hardly  survive  it.    It  would  so  compro- 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


333 


mise  the  interests  of  religion,  and  raise  such  a  strife 
in  the  neighbouring  countries  that  we  have  not  seen 
in  our  time  the  confusion  that  must  follow  in 
Europe.  I  am  astonished  that  prudent  men  on  both 
sides  do  not  see  this.  If  I  had  only  a  few  hours' 
talk  with  you,  I  think  I  could  easily  show  you  what 
pernicious  results  will  follow  from  this  marriage. 
For,  not  to  mention  other  reasons,  if  Anjou,  when  a 
simple  duke,  could  not  endure  his  brother  to  be 
greater  than  himself,  how  will  he  feel  disposed  to 
him,  when  by  this  marriage  he  will  have  such 
resources  behind  him  ?  Then,  though  England 
bases  some  hope  on  the  result  of  a  war,  in  the  first 
place  the  result  would  be  uncertain,  and,  in  the 
second,  such  a  war  would  so  strain  the  resources  of 
both  kingdoms  that,  whichever  should  have  the  best 
of  it,  the  victory  would  also  mean  the  ruin  of  the 
victor.  Again,  if  Aegisthus  should  once  cast  eyes 
on  Clytemnestra,^  he  is  simply  blind  who  does  not 
see  that  this  would  threaten  the  ruin  of  the 
English  queen.  As  regards  our  affairs  in  Scotland, 
if  any  of  your  countrymen  do  not  see  that  it  is 
your  queen's  interest  more  than  ours,  that  the 
honester  party  here  should  hold  the  power,  him  also 
I  hold  equally  purblind.  If  any  one  see  this  and 
yet  conceal  his  opinion,  he  is  even  more  a  traitor  to 
his  own  country  than  an  enemy  of  ours.  Our  affairs 
are  now  in  such  a  state  that  the  very  show  of 
assistance  on  your  part  would  be  enough  to  put 
down  our  common  enemies.  If  this  opportunity 
should  be  lost,  I  fear  there  will  be  no  occasion  for  our 
appealing  to  you  again.  I  was  delighted  to  hear  what 
you  had  to  say  regarding  the  state  of  religion  and 

1  The  reference  is,  of  course,  to  Mary  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 


334  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


letters.  When  you  write  to  me,  direct  your  letters 
to  the  Countess  of  Lennox,  the  relative  of  your 
queen,  and  wife  of  our  Regent,  at  the  English  Court. 
In  this  way  they  will  reach  me  most  directly." 

The  following  letter  is  dated  Stirling,  and, 
from  internal  evidence,  must  be  referred  to  the  year 
1571.  It  is  addressed  to  a  countryman  of  his  own, 
Henry  Scrimgeour,  who  was  settled  in  Geneva  as 
a  professor  of  Civil  Law.  The  letter  will  explain 
itself.  "  You  have  more  than  once  heard  from  me 
during  the  last  two  years  how  eager  Lennox,  our 
late  Kegent,  was  to  make  your  acquaintance,  and 
what  generous  offers  he  enjoined  me  to  make  you.  It 
was  his  intention  not  only  to  assign  you  some  public 
office,  and  to  treat  you  liberally,  but  also,  as  far  as 
his  leisure  from  public  business  would  permit,  to 
refresh  himself  with  the  pleasure  of  your  society. 
Lennox  died  lately,  but  his  successor,  the  Earl  of 
Mar,  is  even  more  urgent,  and  for  the  same  reason 
as  his  predecessor.  He  also  promises  to  make  you 
a  partaker  in  all  his  good  fortune.  But  even  if 
these  promises  should  not  be  fulfilled,  it  would 
hardly  become  a  man  of  your  virtue  and  learning 
and  knowledge  of  affairs  to  refuse  his  offer,  were  it 
only  for  the  sake  of  your  country,  to  whose  interests 
you  cannot  be  wanting  without  actual  criminahty. 
Nor  do  I  consider  it  necessary  here  to  remind  you, 
versed  as  you  are  in  all  Christian  and  Pagan  wisdom, 
what  your  country,  your  friends,  and  your  kindred 
have  a  right  to  demand  of  you.  Much  less  need  I 
recall  to  you  the  examples  of  those  who,  in  the  hour 
of  their  country's  trial,  gladly  gave  their  lives  in  its 
interest.  This  only  I  will  add  to  what  I  have 
already  said  in  my  former  letters.    If  anything  in 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


335 


the  past  (as  I  have  never  doubted)  could  in  some 
measure  delay  your  decision,  every  excuse  of  that 
kind  is  now  removed.  Our  prospects  are  now  some- 
what brighter,  and  we  have  at  our  head  a  man  who 
is  not  only  better  known  to  you  than  his  predecessor, 
but  in  whom  you  can  place  even  more  implicit  con- 
fidence. Does  not  the  same  reason  also  urge  you  to 
this  step  as  that  which  moved  the  illustrious  Epam- 
inondas,  who  deliberately  chose  to  remain  childless 
in  order  that  when  the  need  should  arise,  he  might 
more  freely  give  his  life  for  his  country  ?  But  if 
you  are  one  of  those  who  set  greater  store  by  lucra- 
tive ease  than  honourable  employment,  still,  neither 
the  high  reputation  you  have  gained  by  so  many 
years  of  foreign  travel,  nor  the  distinction  of  your 
family,  nor  the  just  solicitations  of  your  country,  can 
allow  you  to  yield  to  such  poor-spirited  suggestions, 
unless  you  wish  to  forfeit  at  one  stroke  all  the 
honour  of  your  past  life.  ...  Of  my  zealous  affection 
towards  you  I  shall  say  nothing  at  present,  nor  of 
Peter  Young,  whose  attentions  to  me  are  such 
that  I  have  come  to  think  him  as  much  my  own 
kinsman  as  yours.  Pray  salute  Beza  and  Henri 
Estienne  in  my  name.  Our  friend  Knox  is  still  in 
life,  but  he  is  fast  hastening  to  its  term."  In  spite 
of  Buchanan's  urgency,  Scrimgeour  did  not  respond 
to  his  appeal,  alleging  old  age  and  the  troubles  in 
Scotland  as  his  sufficient  excuse.  To  Buchanan,  he 
states  these  excuses  in  a  long  Latin  letter ;  to  the 
Regent  Mar  himself,  in  Scots. 

The  following  letter  of  Beza  to  Buchanan  will 
show  the  relations  that  existed  between  them.  It 
is  dated  Geneva,  1572.  "I  was  unwilling  to  let 
slip  the  present  opportunity  of  writing  to  you. 


336 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


partly  that  you  may  know  with  what  fidelity  I  hold 
you  in  remembrance  and  with  what  reverence  I 
ever  regard  you,  and  partly  that  I  might  congratu- 
late yourself,  or,  to  speak  more  truly,  every  one  of 
your  countrymen,  on  the  circumstance  which  you 
mentioned  to  our  friend  Scrimgeour — that  to  you 
has  been  assigned  the  charge  of  the  King,  who  even 
already,  while  yet  a  child,  has  given  such  proofs  of 
piety  and  every  excellence  as  to  raise  the  highest 
hopes  for  the  future  wellbeing  of  himself  and 
your  whole  nation.  Heaven  grant  that  the  same 
event  may  not  happen  in  your  case  which  in  former 
times  befell  your  neighbour  England!^  But  rather 
let  this  be  your  lot,  that  Scotland,  having  obtained 
a  king  adorned  with  every  gift  of  mind  and  person, 
may  at  length,  after  her  protracted  wars  and  re- 
verses, enjoy  the  benefit  of  sacred  peace.  As  for  our 
own  affairs,  Scrimgeour,  as  I  hope,  will  give  you  full 
information.  I  am  immensely  delighted  with  your 
version  of  the  Psalms.  But  though  they  are  such 
as  could  have  come  from  you  alone,  I  yet  wish 
(what  would  be  a  very  easy  matter  for  you)  that 
you  would  perfect  those  which  are  already  good,  or, 
as  I  should  rather  say,  improve  that  which  is 
already  perfect." 

The  following  letter  shows  the  kindly  interest 
Buchanan  took  in  the  younger  generation  of  his 
fellow-countrymen,  and  how  he  made  his  great 
reputation  abroad  serve  their  interests.  It  is 
addressed  to  Monsieur  de  Sigongues,  Chevalier  de 
rOrdre,  et  Capitane  et  Gouverneur  de  la  Yille  et 
Chasteau  de  Dieppe.  This  Sigongues,  it  may  be 
said,  was  at  one  time  an  agent  of  the  French 

1  The  reference  is,  of  course,  to  Edward  vi. 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


337 


Government  in  Scotland.  We  give  the  letter  in 
the  original  French,  as  the  only  specimen  we  possess 
of  Buchanan's  acquaintance  with  that  language. 
From  other  sources  we  know  that  he  spoke  French 
fluently.  "  Monsieur,  ce  que  j'ay  tant  differ^  de 
vous  escrire  a  este  pour  I'occasion  des  troubles  qui 
ont  universellement  regne,  tant  en  ces  quartiers, 
qu'en  la  France,  au  grand  prejudice  des  deux  roy- 
almes.  Et  comme  par  la  grace  de  Dieu  nous  avons 
en  la  fin  quelque  relasche  de  nos  maux,  il  me  semble 
(je  le  dis  avec  regret)  que  les  vostres  ne  font  que 
recommencer.  Mais  pour  laisser  ce  propos,  la  pre- 
sente  sera  pour  me  recommander  humblement  a 
vostre  bonne  grace,  ensemble  ce  present  Porteur 
Thomas  Fairlie,  qui  est  fort  de  mes  amys,  et  autant 
amy  qu'ayme  de  tons  les  miens.  Le  bien  et  plaisir 
que  vous  luy  ferez,  je  I'estimeray  fait  a  moy  mesme, 
comme  je  fais  celuy  qu'avez  par  le  passe  fait  a  tous 
ceux  que  je  vous  ay  recommande,  qui  se  louent 
grandement  de  vostre  favour,  pour  laquelle  je  vous 
demeure  tres  oblige  ;  vous  asseurant.  Monsieur,  que 
si  je  puys  quelque  chose  pour  vous  par  deca,  ou 
pour  les  vostres,  que  vous  me  pouvez  livrement  com- 
mander, comme  celui  qui  sera  tousjours  prest  a  vous 
obeyer  et  fair  service.  A  Sterlin,  ce  dousieme  de 
Janvier,  1573,  Celui  qui  est  de  tout  vostre, 

"  George  Buchanan." 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Buchanan's 
correspondents  was  the  Danish  astronomer,  Tycho 
Brahd;  but  the  following  letter  of  Buchanans  is 
the  only  memorial  of  their  intercourse  that  has  been 
preserved.  In  1590,  when  King  James  visited 
Tycho  in  his  castle  of  Uranienburg,  he  saw  the 

Y 


338  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


portrait  of  Buchanan  in  the  library.  Sir  Peter 
Young,  Buchanan's  assistant  in  the  education  of 
James,  had  presented  it  in  one  of  his  embassies  to 
the  Court  of  Denmark/  Buchanan's  letter  is  dated 
Stirling,  1576  :  ''Another  year  has  already  passed, 
most  learned  Tycho,  since  William  Lumsdale,  on  his 
return  from  Denmark,  brought  me  your  book,  De 
Nova  Stella.  For  many  reasons  your  gift  was  most 
grateful  to  me,  but  above  all  because  it  came  from 
you,  a  man,  that  is  to  say,  illustrious  by  descent 
and  genius,  and  equally  remarkable  for  his  accom- 
plishments, who  has  raised  from  its  low  estate,  and 
transported  from  the  sordid  hands  of  the  vulgar  to 
its  true  home,  the  palace,  that  part  of  philosophy, 
which  in  the  words  of  your  favourite  Manilius, 

'  Regales  animos  primum  dignata  movers, 
Proxima  tangentes  rerum  fastigia  coelo.' 

Great  as  is  your  gift,  your  kindness  and  courtesy 
have  still  more  increased  its  value.  From  the 
height  where  rank  and  learning  alike  place  you,  not 
only  have  you  cast  favourable  eyes  on  my  humble 
self  (penitus  penitusque  jacentes),  but  by  your  own 
example  you  encourage  me  also  Nube  vehi,  vali- 
disque  humeris  insistere  Atlantis,  and  by  the  monu- 
ments of  your  own  industry  refute  that  false 
though  generally  received  opinion,  that  under  our 
cold  northern  sky  men's  minds  are  doomed  by 
nature  to  lethargy.  Since  every  northern  people  is 
thus  so  deeply  in  your  debt,  and  I  myself  most  of 
all,  you  will  not,  I  trust,  think  me  guilty  of  rude- 
ness because  I  have  not  acknowledged  your  gift  till 
now.  All  who  know  me  are  well  aware  how  far 
any  such  rudeness  is  from  my  character  and  con- 

1  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanarif  p.  200. 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


339 


stant  habit.  My  friends  also  know  how,  during 
the  last  two  years,  my  life  has  been  a  constant 
battle  with  the  most  serious  illnesses,  and  that  I 
have  had  hardly  an  hour  at  my  disposal  for  corre- 
spondence. I  have,  therefore,  been  forced  not  only 
to  give  up  my  lighter  tasks,  but  also  to  leave  half 
finished  my  five  books  on  the  Sphere,  and  finally  to 
abandon  the  hope  of  producing  a  poem  worthy  to 
preserve  my  name  with  posterity.  Yourself  I  con- 
gratulate on  a  rank  due  to  your  ancestors,  on 
your  genius,  the  gift  of  nature,  and  your  learning 
acquired  while  still  in  the  prime  of  life  by  your  own 
labour  and  zeal.  Though  myself  reduced  to  the 
helpless  torpor  of  age,  I  shall  gladly  applaud  you 
who  are  still  in  the  course ;  and  any  services 
besides,  which  you  may  ask  of  me,  I  shall  be  grati- 
fied to  perform  to  the  extent  of  my  ability.  I 
have  requested  William  Lumsdale,  the  bearer  of 
this  letter,  carefully  to  inform  me  of  the  state  of 
your  affairs.  I  would  also  request  that  with  your 
usual  courtesy  and  kindly  zeal  you  would  help  him 
to  recover,  if  possible,  a  small  sum  of  money  which 
is  due  to  him." 

In  the  letter  which  follows  we  again  see 
Buchanan  in  the  character  which  his  age  and  repu- 
tation entitled  him  so  gracefully  to  assume — that 
of  general  mentor  to  the  thoughtful  young  Scots- 
men of  the  time.  Neither  the  date  nor  the  person 
addressed  is  known.  "  I  received  your  letter  some 
days  since.  I  received  it  with  much  pleasure  for 
many  reasons,  but  specially  because  you  were  the 
writer,  and  because  it  gave  no  mean  proof  of  your 
capacity,  as  well  as  a  sure  hope  that  in  no  long  time 
your  country  will  reap  the  happiest  fruits  from  the 


340  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

same  soil.  Moreover,  by  the  same  letter  it  seems 
to  me  that  you  have,  as  it  were,  bound  yourself  by 
a  pledge  to  future  usefulness.  When  such  a 
foundation  is  laid,  it  can  be  only  your  own  sloth  if 
the  rest  of  the  building  do  not  correspond.  Surely 
it  is  not  likely  that  you  alone,  to  the  extent  of  your 
other  good  qualities  and  gifts  of  person  and  fortune, 
will  be  found  wanting  when  nature  has  supplied  all 
the  rest.  I  wish  you,  therefore,  not  only  to  lay 
seriously  to  heart  what  you  owe  to  yourself,  your 
friends,  and  your  kinsmen,  but  meanwhile  to  re- 
member that  I  also,  who  hold  you  bound  by  such 
a  pledge,  will  never  cease  to  remind  you  of  your 
duty,  as  knowing  that  good  things  do  not  usually 
become  bad  by  their  being  called  such.  But  if  you 
should  disappoint  our  hopes,  although  many  will 
grieve  along  with  me,  yet  my  sorrow  will  be  so 
much  greater  than  that  of  everybody  else,  because 
I  feel  myself  bound  to  you  for  so  many  more 
reasons.  But  if,  as  all  desire,  you  shall  achieve 
what  is  worthy  of  yourself,  you  will  at  once  give  a 
common  pleasure  to  myself  and  others,  and  do  what 
is  worthy  of  your  descent,  and  thus  renew  the 
ancient  lustre  of  your  family,  whose  glory  it  is 
incumbent  on  you  to  serve.  I  would  have  you 
especially  to  remember  that  in  this  same  race  for 
glory  you  have  a  competitor  (the  King  himself,  I 
mean),  your  equal  in  genius,  but  younger  than  your- 
self in  years,  and  in  his  tender  age  even  more 
engrossed  by  the  attentions  of  flatterers  than  your- 
self, who  in  your  quiet  retreat,  free  from  all  solici- 
tude, ought  to  give  yourself  up  to  study  both  out  of 
respect  for  yourself  and  from  the  inspiring  example 
of  others.    I  add  no  more,  lest  T  should  seem  to 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


341 


imply  doubt  of  your  character  and  talents."  No- 
thing could  show  more  forcibly  than  this  letter  the 
eager  interest  Buchanan  took  in  the  generation 
rising  around  him.  A  significant  reference  to  this 
trait  in  his  character  occurs  in  another  letter,  in 
which  one  of  his  correspondents  refers  to  George 
Keith  (son  of  the  Earl  Marischal),  a  young  man  in 
whom  Buchanan  seems  also  to  have  taken  an 
interest,  as  being  well  aware  that  "  Buchanan  was 
always  ready  to  seek  the  friendship  of  good  men, 
and  that  no  one  could  be  more  faithful  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  of  friendship  ".^ 

We  have  seen  Buchanan  recommending  the 
young  Huguenot,  Jerome  Groslot,  to  Beza.  In  the 
following  letter  we  have  Beza  similarly  recommend- 
ing another  young  man  to  Buchanan  :  "  Not  so  long 
since,  my  Buchanan,  I  sought  to  renew  our  friend- 
ship by  writing  to  you.  You  will  now  see  what 
trust  I  place  in  your  goodwill  to  me,  when  I  actu- 
ally take  the  liberty  of  recommending  my  friends 
to  you.^  The  youth  who  bears  this  letter  comes  of 
a  distinguished  family,  and  is  the  son  of  a  father 
held  by  us  in  the  highest  esteem.  On  his  being 
sent  on  a  mission  to  your  king  I  deemed  it  my 
duty  to  make  him  acquainted  with  yourself,  that  by 
your  counsel  and  authority  he  may  be  stimulated, 
young  as  he  is,  and  in  a  foreign  land,  to  persevere  in 
that  course  of  piety  and  virtue  on  which  he  has 
already  entered.  Although  I  have  no  doubt  that 
as  a  true  lover  of  all  good  men  you  would  of  your 
own  accord  have  done  this  kindness,  yet  I  persuaded 
myself  that  on  my  recommendation  of  this  young 

^  E'pist.  xviii. 

^  Buchanan's  letter  recommending  Groslot  was  written  after  the  above. 


342  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


man  you  will  do  so  even  more  gladly,  and  with 
still  greater  eagerness  to  serve  him.  I  earnestly 
request  that  you  will  not  deceive  me  in  this  my 
hope.  As  for  myself,  I  am  as  well  as  men  of  my 
age  usually  are.  I  suffer  not  so  much  from  my 
labours,  though  of  these  I  have  undergone  not  a 
few,  as  from  chronic  vexation  of  spirit,  for  which 
there  is  too  great  justification.  For  how  can  I  for- 
bear to  indulge  my  grief  for  the  Churches  in  France, 
so  cruelly  persecuted,  spoiled,  and  oppressed?  I 
confess  myself  unable  to  bear  with  becoming 
patience  this  heavy  visitation,  yet  it  is  my  hope 
that  God  will  in  brief  space  ordain  its  end,  and 
so  restore  me  to  a  happier  frame  of  mind.  Pray 
God,  therefore,  for  me,  dearest  brother,  that  I 
may  happily  finish  the  course  I  have  yet  to  run, 
as  I  in  turn  pray  Him  that  He  may  bless  with  in- 
creasing blessing  the  happiness  of  your  old  age.'' 

The  letter  which  follows  is  perhaps  the  highest 
tribute  ever  paid  to  the  character  and  career  of 
Buchanan,  and  it  is  the  tribute  of  one  who  was 
himself  among  the  noblest  spirits  of  his  age — Hubert 
Languet,  the  revered  friend  and  mentor  of  Sir 
Philip  Sidney.  To  Languet  himself,  it  will  be 
remembered,  Sidney  in  the  Arcadia  expresses  his 
deepest  debt : 

"  The  song  I  sang  old  Languet  had  me  taught — 
Languet,  the  shepherd  best  swift  Ister  knew 

For  clerkly  reed,  and  hating  what  is  naught, 

For  faithful  heart,  clean  hands,  and  mouth  as  true. 

With  his  sweet  skill  my  skill-less  youth  he  drew 
To  have  a  feeling  taste  of  Him  that  sits 
Beyond  the  heavens,  far  more  beyond  our  wits." 

Buchanan  and  Languet  were  in  many  respects 
kindred  spirits.    They  thought  alike  in  religion  and 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE, 


343 


politics,^  they  had  both  the  same  impetuous  temper, 
and  they  both  showed  the  same  vehemence  in  their 
denunciation  of  what  they  deemed  tyranny  or  irre- 
ligion.  From  Languors  letter  it  will  be  seen  that 
he  regarded  Buchanan  with  much  the  same  feelings 
as  Sidney  regarded  himself:  "So  well  are  you 
known  to  the  whole  Christian  world  by  your  virtue 
and  the  many  monuments  of  your  genius,  that  there 
is  hardly  a  lover  of  learning  and  sound  instruction 
who  does  not  pay  you  the  tribute  of  his  ardent 
reverence  and  admiration.  I  count  it  my  great 
happiness  that  in  Paris  some  twenty  years  since  it 
was  my  good  fortune  not  only  to  see  you  and  to 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  your  learning  and  the  delightful 
charm  of  your  conversation,  but  also  to  entertain 
you  as  my  guest  along  with  others  of  the  highest 
distinction,  Turn^be,  Dorat,  and  others.  We  then 
heard  much  from  you  to  our  utmost  profit  and 
delight.  Of  all  this  I  now  write  to  see  whether  I 
can  recall  to  you  who  I  am.  But  be  I  who  I  may, 
be  certain  that  your  virtues  are  my  profoundest 
admiration.  For  many  years  I  lived  with  Philip 
Melanchthon,  and  I  then  thought  myself  happy. 
On  his  death,  after  many  vicissitudes,  I  at  length 
came  to  this  country  as  to  a  safe  port,  finding  none 
safer  elsewhere,  though  here  also  for  many  years 
the  storms  of  civil  war  have  been  raging.  Never- 
theless, amid  these  storms  the  light  of  the  Gospel  is 
shining,  and  the  true  way  of  salvation  is  preached 
to  us,  and  superstition  driven  out  of  the  churches 
to  the  great  indignation  of  Spain,  which  is  still 

^  Languet  was  supposed  to  be  the  author  of  the  famous  political 
tract  Vindiciae  contra  Tyrannos,  which  advocates  much  the  same  doc- 
trine as  Buchanan's  De  Jure  Regni.  The  authorship  of  this  tract  is  still 
under  discussion. 


344 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


under  its  dominion.  It  was  by  the  command  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  the  chiefest  ornament  of  our  age, 
that  I  came  here  with  himself  By  his  courage  and 
genius  he  has  till  now  so  successfully  coped  with 
the  mighty  resources  of  the  Spanish  king  that  he 
has  won  for  himself  undying  fame.  Under  him  as 
their  leader,  these  provinces,  after  their  rupture  from 
the  tyranny  of  Spain,  have  with  happy  auspices  set 
up  other  states  and  churches,  and  by  their  confede- 
ration hitherto  withstood  the  arms  of  the  enemy. 
The  king  of  Spain,  after  vainly  attempting  for 
many  years  to  put  the  Prince  down  by  force,  has  at 
length  had  recourse  to  weapons  which  seem  hardly 
to  become  so  great  a  king.  He  has  published  a 
document  in  which  he  denounces  him  as  an  outlaw, 
and  by  the  offer  of  rewards  encourages  his  assassina- 
tion. As  in  that  document  there  are  many  false 
charges  against  the  Prince,  his  friends  urged  him  to 
publish  a  manifesto  (which  I  herewith  send  you)  as 
a  reply  to  the  calumnies  of  the  Spaniards.  I  have 
spent  this  last  winter  in  these  marshes  of  the 
Netherlands,  which  seem  more  fitted  to  be  the 
abodes  of  frogs  and  eels  than  of  human  beings. 
This,  however,  is  a  very  fine  town.^  At  a  distance 
of  some  three  hours'  journey  is  Leyden,  where  are 
to  be  found  Justus  Lipsius,  the  poet  Douza,  and  the 
French  jurisconsult  Donellus,  all  of  them  men  of 
learning  and  reputation.  By  going  outside  the 
town  we  at  once  come  in  view  of  Rotterdam,  the 
sight  of  which  recalls  not  only  the  great  Erasmus, 
the  boast  of  his  fellow-citizens,  but  yourself  also, 
since  I  can  never  cease  wondering  that  such  countries 
and  climates  can  give  birth  to  men  whose  equals  in 

1  Delft,  in  the  Netherlands. 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


345 


genius  can  nowhere  be  found  among  their  contem- 
poraries. Erasmus  was  invited  to  undertake  the 
education  of  Ferdinand,  the  brother  of  the  Emperor 
Charles,  but  refused  the  task.  You  I  count  both 
more  fortunate  and  more  noble  in  consenting  to  the 
request  of  your  countrymen  to  imbue  the  youthful 
mind  of  your  prince  with  precepts  which,  if  his 
manhood  follow  them,  will  lead  to  the  highest 
happiness  of  himself  and  his  subjects.  I  am 
extremely  eager  to  learn,  if  I  am  not  too 
curious,  when  we  may  look  for  your  History  of 
Scotland.  You  will  learn  from  Melville,  a  man 
of  the  highest  character,  how  things  are  at  present 
with  myself." 

The  last  letter  but  one  ^  of  Buchanan  is  ad- 
dressed to  his  old  friend  and  colleague,  Elie  Vinet. 
Their  friendship,  begun  at  Bordeaux,  had  been 
cemented  by  common  dangers  and  misfortunes  at 
Coimbra.  The  two  friends,  it  appears,  were  in 
the  habit  of  exchanging  letters  once  a  year  through 
the  wine-merchants  who  traded  between  Scotland 
and  Bordeaux.  It  should  be  said  that  Vinet  was 
now  at  the  head  of  the  College  de  Guyenne, 
in  Bordeaux.  "  When  our  merchants  from  Bor- 
deaux bring  me  tidings  of  you,  it  rejoices  my 
heart,  and  my  youth  seems  to  return,  for  then  I 
learn  that  a  remnant  still  survives  of  our  notable 
Portuguese  expedition.  Now  in  my  seventy- 
fifth  year,  I  sometimes  recall  through  what  cares 
and  toils  (passing  every  port  where  men  are  wont 
to  find  joy  and  refreshment)  I  have  in  my  voyage  of 
life  at  length  struck  on  that  rock  beyond  which,  as 
it  is  most  truly  said  in  the  ninetieth  psalm,  nothing 
^  At  least  of  those  that  we  possess. 


346 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


remains  but  labour  and  sorrow.  The  memory  of 
friends,  of  whom  you  are  almost  the  only  survivor — 
this  is  now  my  one  consolation.  You,  though 
I  believe  as  advanced  in  years  as  myself,  are  still 
able  to  give  your  fellow-citizens  the  benefit  of  your 
labour  and  your  wisdom.  I  have  long  bidden  farewell 
to  literature ;  and  my  only  thought  now  is,  with  as 
little  noise  as  possible,  to  leave  a  generation  with 
which  I  am  no  longer  in  sympathy — as  one  dead, 
that  is  to  say,  to  leave  the  haunts  of  the  living. 
Meanwhile  I  send  you  the  last-born  of  my  little 
books.  When  you  see  its  clear  proofs  of  my  dotage, 
you  will  have  no  great  desire  to  see  its  fellows.  I 
hear  that  a  young  Scotsman,  by  name  Harry  Ward- 
law,  and  come  of  a  good  stock,  is  at  present  in  Bor- 
deaux prosecuting  his  studies  with  some  success. 
Although  I  know  well  your  unfailing  kindness  and 
courtesy,  and  though  you  are  aware  that  foreigners 
have  a  peculiar  claim  upon  you,  still  I  wish  the 
young  man  to  understand  what  our  ancient  friend- 
ship avails  with  you."  De  Thou  tells  us  that,  when 
he  was  in  Bordeaux,  Vinet  showed  him  this  very 
letter  of  Buchanan.  It  was  written,  he  says,  "  in  a 
trembling  hand  but  in  a  magnanimous  spirit",  the 
writer  "  complaining  not  so  much  of  the  irksomeness 
of  old  age,  as  of  the  weariness  of  a  life  prolonged 
beyond  its  due  limits  ".  De  Thou  was  especially 
struck  by  one  sentence  in  the  letter,  which  he  says 
he  always  preserved  in  his  memory :  "  Nunc  id 
unum  satago,  ut  minimo  cum  strepitu,  ex  inaequa- 
lium  meorum,  hoc  est,  mortuus  e  vivorum  con- 
tubernio  demigrem."^ 

To  this  letter  of  Buchanan  Yinet  rephes  as 

^  De  Thou,  Commentar.  de  Vita  Sua,  lib.  ii. 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


347 


follows  : — "  Your  letter,  dated  16tli  March,  reached 
me  on  the  3rd  of  June.  Nothing  could  well  give 
me  greater  pleasure  than  a  letter  from  yourself,  now 
so  far  down  the  vale  of  years,  with  seas  between  us, 
and  so  many  a  day  since  we  met.  And  that  men- 
tion of  our  Portuguese  journey,  and  those  times 
when  we  were  far  happier  than  now  !  I  have  read  it 
again  and  again,  as  likewise  the  book  that  accom- 
panied it.  If  I  may  trust  my  own  judgment  and 
that  of  friends,  many  of  whom  are  your  own  former 
scholars,  it  was  no  '  dotard '  that  wrote  it.  I  hear, 
however,  that  a  countryman  of  your  own,  a  coun- 
cillor of  Poitou,  is  of  a  different  opinion.  He  has 
written  a  book,  which  I  shall  send  you  as  soon  as  it 
is  published  in  Poitou.  Of  the  companion  volumes, 
which  you  say  I  am  desirous  of  seeing,  I  know 
nothing ;  but  George  Buchanan's  Tragedies,  Psalms, 
Elegies,  and  Epigrams,  are  for  sale  here.  Many 
persons  here,  myself  not  least,  are  looking  for  your 
Sphere,  which  we  are  told  you  composed  some  time 
since ;  but  perhaps  it  is  not  quite  ready  for  publica- 
tion. My  own  treatises  of  which  you  speak  are 
merely  elementary,  and  are  intended  for  the  use  of 
my  pupils.  If  you  doubt  this,  the  commentary  on 
the  Somnium  Scipionis,  which  I  send  you  with  the 
letters  of  Gelida,  will  satisfy  you.  As  regards 
Henry  Wardlaw,  whom  you  so  warmly  commend  to 
me,  since  I  made  your  acquaintance  here,  and  came 
to  know  your  character  and  attainments,  I  have  for 
your  sake  loved  and  cherished  all  your  countrymen, 
and  done  all  in  my  power  (limited  as  it  is)  to 
advance  their  interests.  Our  school  is  rarely 
without  a  Scotsman.     At  present  we  have  two, 


348 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


one  a  professor  of  philosophy,  the  other  of 
Greek  and  mathematics,  both  men  of  learning  and 
character,  and  acceptable  to  the  students.  Fare- 
well !  Look  henceforward  for  many  letters  from  me 
as  I  have  opportunity  of  sending  them." 


CHAPTER  XX. 


LAST  DAYS — CONCLUSION. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  Hfe  Buchanan  Hved 
mainly  in  Edinburgh,  in  what  part  of  the  town  no 
tradition  has  reached  us.^  At  Sheriff  hall,  in  the 
parish  of  Newton,  near  Dalkeith,  however,  a  room 
is  still  shown  where  he  is  said  to  have  written  part 
of  his  History.^  Fortunately,  just  one  year  before 
his  death,  he  received  a  visit,  which  has  been 
described  for  us  with  a  minuteness  and  fidelity  of 
detail  that  make  it  by  far  the  most  valuable  con- 
temporary notice  of  Buchanan  we  possess.  In  Sep- 
tember 1581,  the  diarist  James  Melville,  with  his 
uncle,  Andrew  Melville,  and  Buchanan's  own  cousin, 
Thomas  Buchanan,  crossed  from  St.  Andrews  to 
Edinburgh  with  the  express  purpose  of  visiting  the 
old  scholar.  Melville  has  devoted  a  page  of  his 
diary  to  an  account  of  this  visit,^  which  is  not  only 
a  vivid  page  of  biography,  but  has  in  it  a  strain  that 

1  But  see  note  to  page  353. 

^  As  being  on  the  lands  adjoining  Dalkeith,  the  house  in  which 
Buchanan  lived  at  Sheriffhall  would  belong  to  the  Earl  of  Morton. 
During  Morton's  regency  it  was  necessary  that  Buchanan,  as  Keeper  of 
the  Privy  Seal,  should  be  near  him ;  and  we  actually  have  documents, 
dated  from  Dalkeith,  with  Buchanan's  signature  attached  to  them.  The 
tradition  is  that  it  was  in  the  tower  of  SheriflFhall  House,  known  as  the 
"Dove-cot",  that  Buchanan  wrote  his  History.  It  may  be  added  that 
the  room  where  Buchanan  lived  in  St.  Andrews  is  also  still  shown. 

3  Mr.  James  MelvilVs  Diary ^  p.  86,  4to,  Edin.  1829. 

349 


350  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

reminds  us  of  Plutarch  at  his  best.  As  Buchanan 
is  here  presented  to  us,  we  can  hardly  help  recalling 
Sir  James  Melville's  description  of  him  as  a  stoick 
philosopher,  who  looked  not  far  before  him 

"  That  September  [1581],  in  tyme  of  vacans,  my 
uncle,  Mr.  Andro,  Mr.  Thomas  Buchanan,  and  I, 
heiring  that  Mr.  George  Buchanan  was  weak  and 
his  Historie  under  the  pres,  past  ower  to  Edin- 
bruche  amies  errand,  to  visit  him  and  sie  the  wark. 
When  we  cam  to  his  chalmer,  we  fand  him  sitting 
in  his  chaire,  teatching  his  young  man  that  servit 
him  in  his  chalmer  to  spell  a,  b,  ab ;  e,  b,  eb,  etc. 
Efter  salutation,  Mr.  Andro  sayes,  *  I  sie,  sir,  yie 
are  nocht  ydle.' 

' Better  this,'  quoth  he,  '  nor  stelling  sheipe, 
or  sitting  ydle,  qhuilk  is  als  ill.* 

"  Therefter  he  schew  us  the  Epistle  Dedicatorie 
to  the  King ;  the  quhilk,  when  Mr.  Andro  had  read, 
he  tauld  him  that  it  was  obscure  in  sum  places,  and 
wanted  certean  words  to  perfyt  the  sentence. 

"  Sayes  he,  '  I  may  do  na  mair  for  thinking  on 
another  mater.' 

'  What  is  that  ? '  sayes  Mr.  Andro. 

*'*To  die!'  quoth  he;  '  bot  I  leave  that  and 
manie  ma  things  for  you  to  helpe.' 

We  went  from  him  to  the  printars  wark  hous, 
whom  we  fand  at  the  end  of  the  17  buik  of  his 
Cornicle,  at  a  place  quhilk  we  thought  verie  hard 
for  the  tyme,  quhilk  might  be  an  occasion  of  steying 
the  haill  wark,  anent  the  buriall  of  Davie.^  Therfor, 
steying  the  printer  from  proceiding,  we  cam  to  Mr. 

^  David  Rizzio.  In  his  History  Buchanan  states,  as  one  among  other 
proofs  of  Mary's  guilty  relations  with  Rizzio,  that  she  caused  his  body  to 
be  removed  from  the  place  in  vrhich  it  was  first  laid,  and  to  be  buried  in 
the  tomb  of  James  v. 


LAST  DAYS. 


351 


George  again,  and  fund  him  bedfast  bj^  his  custome, 
and  asking  him,  whow  he  did,  '  Even  going  the  way 
of  weilfare,'  sayes  he.  Mr.  Thomas,  his  cusing, 
schawes  him  of  the  hardnes  of  that  part  of  his 
Storie,  that  the  King  wald  be  offendit  with  it,  and 
it  might  stey  all  the  wark. 

"  '  Tell  me,  man,'  sayes  he,  '  giff  I  have  tauld  the 
treuthe  ? ' 

'  Yis,'  sayes  Mr.  Thomas,  '  sir,  I  think  sa.' 
"'I  will  byd  his  fead,  and  all  his  Kins,  then,' 
quoth  he :  '  Pray,  pray  to  God  for  me,  and  let  him 
direct  all.' 

"  Sa,  be  the  printing  of  his  Cornicle  was  endit, 
that  maist  lerned,  wyse,  and  godlie  man,  endit  this 
his  mortall  lyff." 

In  August  1582,  a  month  before  Buchanan's 
death,  occurred  the  famous  Raid  of  Ruthven.  By 
that  date  he  must  have  been  so  feeble  that  he  could 
take  but  little  interest  in  an  event  that  threatened 
Scotland  with  another  revolution.  According  to 
Camden,  the  conspirators  tried  to  win  him  to  their 
side,  but  failed.^  This  is  improbable.  If  Buchanan 
was  able  to  take  any  interest  whatever  in  the  affair, 
all  his  past  record  leads  us  to  conclude  that  his 
sympathies  would  be  against  the  favourites  of  the 
King,  and  the  policy  they  had  been  teaching  him. 

As  in  the  case  of  every  Protestant  of  eminence, 
many  foolish  stories  came  to  be  circulated  by  Roman 
Catholic  writers  regarding  Buchanan's  last  days.^ 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  stories  rest  on  no 
satisfactory  evidence,  and  that  they  are  stupidly 
inconsistent  with  the  character  of  the  man  they  were 


^  i.e.  contrary  to.  -  Annales,  vol.  ii.  p.  386. 

2  Some  of  these  stories  are  given  in  Bayle. 


352 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


meant  to  discredit.  We  have  seen  from  his  corre- 
spondence that  for  years  he  had  looked  for  death 
even  with  longing,  as  one  who  had  fully  accomplished 
his  work,  and  to  whom  life  could  henceforth  be  but 
"labour  and  sorrow".  Two  stories  we  may  accept 
as  at  once  in  keeping  with  his  character,  and  as 
resting  on  fair  authority.  According  to  Wodrow, 
Buchanan  was  visited  towards  his  end  by  a  Pres- 
byterian minister,  John  Davidson.  Buchanan  ex- 
pressed to  him  his  belief  in  salvation  through  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  but,  in  the  course  of  the  inter- 
view, ridiculed,  in  his  usual  caustic  vein,  the 
absurdities  of  the  Mass.  The  other  story  is  thus 
told  by  Mackenzie.^  As  will  be  seen,  it  is  admirably 
true  to  all  we  know  of  Buchanan  : — 

"  When  Buchanan  was  dying,  he  called  for  Mr. 
Young,  his  servant,^  and  asked  him  how  much 
money  he  had  of  his,  and  finding  that  it  was  not 
sufficient  for  defraying  the  charges  of  his  burial,  he 
commanded  him  to  distribute  it  among  the  poor. 
Upon  which  Mr.  Young  asking  who  then  would  be 
at  the  charges  of  burying  him,  he  answered  that  he 
was  very  indifferent  about  that,  for  if  he  was  once 
dead,  if  they  would  not  bury  him,  they  might  let 
him  lie  where  he  was,  or  throw  his  corpse  where 
they  pleased ;  and  that,  accordingly,  the  City  of 
Edinburgh  was  obliged  to  bury  him  at  their  own 
expenses."  This  story  of  Mackenzie  is  supported 
by  the  fact  that  in  Buchanan's  will,  it  is  stated 
that  his  only     goods  and  gear"  in  the  world  is 

^  Lives  of  Scots  Writers,  vol.  iii.  p.  172.  Mackenzie  says  that  lie 
had  this  story  also  from  the  Earl  of  Cromarty,  who  had  it  from  his 
grandfather,  Lord  Invertyle. 

2  This  "Mr.  Young"'  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  confounded  with  Sir 
Peter  Young,  Buchanan's  assistant  in  the  education  of  James. 


CONCLUSION. 


353 


the  sum  of  a  hundred  pounds  due  to  him  from  his 
Crossraguel  pension.^ 

Buchanan  died  on  the  28th  of  September  1582, 
and  was  buried  on  the  following  day,  Saturday,  his 
funeral  being  attended  ''by  a  great  company  of  the 
faithful  ".^  The  grounds  of  the  Greyfriars  had  lately 
been  converted  into  a  public  burying-ground,  and 
Buchanan  was  "  the  first  person  of  celebrity "  laid 
there. ^  From  a  minute  in  the  Town  Council 
Records  of  Edinburgh,  1701,  it  would  appear  that 
at  some  date  a  stone  must  have  been  placed  over  his 
grave.  By  that  year,  however,  the  stone  had  sunk 
out  of  sight,  and  the  Council  gave  orders  that  it 
should  be  raised,  and  its  inscription  renewed.*  At 
a  later  date,  the  stone  seems  again  to  have  disap- 
peared, as  George  Chalmers  could  find  no  trace  of 
it.^  Within  recent  years,  however,  it  was  re-dis- 
covered, and  actually  removed  and  appropriated  to 
the  memory  of  one  of  the  grave-diggers.^  A  simple 
tablet  marks  the  spot  where  Buchanan's  grave  is 
supposed  to  be,^  and  in  another  part  of  the  church- 

^  See  Appendix  D. 

2  Calderwood.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  J ohn  Taylor  Brown  for  the  follow- 
ing interesting  note  :  "  The  following  note  was  extracted  about  sixty- 
years  ago  from  a  memorandum-book  kept  by  George  Paton,  the  antiquary. 
*  George  Buchanan  took  his  last  illness  and  died  in  Kennedy's  Close,  first 
court  thereof  on  your  left  hand,  first  house  in  the  turnpike  above  the 
tavern  there  ;  and  in  Queen  Ann's  time  this  was  told  to  his  family 
and  friends,  who  resided  in  that  house,  by  Sir  James  Stewart  of  Good- 
trees,  Lord  Advocate.'  Kennedy's  Close  was  the  second  close  above  the 
Tron  Church,  and  is  now  absorbed  into  Hunter  Square." 

^  David  Laing,  Introduction  to  Epitaphs  and  Monumental  Inscrip- 
tions in  Greyfriars  Churchyard  (Edin.  1867),  p.  xxii. 

*  It  seems,  however,  that  there  was  no  inscription  on  the  stone. — 
Ibid.  p.  xxiii. 

^  Chalmers,  i-i/e  of  Ruddiman  (Lond.  1794),  p.  270  note.  Irving, 
Memoirs  of  Buchanan  (p.  309  note),  is  very  severe  on  Chalmers's 
unfortunate  misreading  of  Adamson's  Epigram,  which  is  not,  as  he 
thought,  a  monumental  inscription. 

^  Epitaphs  and  Monumental  Inscriptions  in  Greyfriars,  p.  xxiv. 

^  Ibid.  p.  18  :  "  A  few  years  ago,  a  humble  blacksmith  erected  at 

Z 


354 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


yard  a  monument  has  been  erected,  consisting  of  a 
large  pedestal  with  a  bust  of  life-size.^  Within  the 
Old  Greyfriars  Church  itself,  a  memorial  window, 
with  Buchanan's  portrait  and  the  arms  of  his  family, 
has  also  within  recent  years  been  erected  to  his 
memory.^  It  may  be  added  that  what  on  good 
authority  is  supposed  to  be  Buchanan's  skull  is 
preserved  in  the  Anatomical  Museum  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh.  Its  general  outline  is  exactly 
that  of  the  best  portraits,  and  by  its  dome-like  shape 
and  extreme  tenuity,  it  has  all  the  marks  of  a  high 
cerebral  development.^ 

From  the  preceding  pages  it  will  have  suf- 
ficiently appeared  what  manner  of  man  Buchanan 
was,  and  what  the  scope  and  general  direction  of 
his  Hfe.  The  type  of  mind  to  which  he  belonged 
we  can  have  no  difficulty  in  determining.  He  was 
no  religious  reformer  like  Knox,  or  Calvin,  or  even 
Colet,  nor  was  he  a  born  educationist  like  Jean 
Sturm.  He  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  who  feel 
strongly  and  generously,  but  who  by  the  mobility 
of  their  feeling  and  their  very  keenness  of  insight 
are  incapable  of  being  enthusiasts  or  great  practical 
reformers.*   During  the  last  quarter  of  his  life  he 

his  own  expense  the  small  tablet  which  now  marks  the  spot  where 
Buchanan  was  buried."  The  grave  (regarding  which,  however,  there  is 
some  uncertainty)  is  near  the  eastern  wall  of  the  churchyard,  to  the 
right  of  the  main  entrance. 

^  This  monument  was  erected  by  the  late  Mr.  David  Laing,  at  his 
own  expense,  in  1 878.  The  bust  was  executed  by  Mr.  D.  W.  Stevenson, 
after  the  Boissard  portrait  approved  by  Drummond  and  Laing. 

2  By  the  late  James  Buchanan,  Esq.,  father  of  the  present  Member 
for  Edinburgh. 

2  The  skull  was  obtained  from  Greyfriars  by  John  Adamson,  Princi- 
pal of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  After  Adamson's  death  it  became 
the  property  of  the  University. — Sibbald,  Commentarius  in  Vitam 
Georgii  Buchanani,  p.  62  ;  Irving,  Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  310. 

*  Mark  Pattison  (Essays,  i.  79,  Clar.  Press,  1889)  says  of  Erasmus 


CONCLUSION. 


355 


was  in  fall  sympathy  with  the  Protestant  revolu- 
tion, and  he  was  profoundly  convinced  that  in  a 
complete  breach  with  Rome  lay  the  only  hope  for 
the  future  of  Christian  Europe.  At  the  same  time, 
he  held  these  convictions  in  a  fashion  very  different 
from  Calvin  and  Knox.  This,  indeed,  could  hardly 
have  been  otherwise,  seeing  that,  till  past  middle  age, 
his  mind  had  been  far  more  deeply  engaged  by  the 
ideals  of  humanism  than  those  of  religious  reform. 
The  free  play  of  thought  and  feeling  which  this 
discipline  naturally  induced  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  be  dominated  by  a  single  idea  like  Knox, 
or  to  be  a  theological  doctrinaire  like  Calvin. 
Buchanan  spoke  with  sufficient  vehemence  of  what 
he  deemed  the  corruption  and  false  teaching  of 
Rome ;  but  we  measure  the  difference  between  him 
and  Knox,  when  we  compare  their  respective  treat- 
ment of  that  period  of  Scottish  history  in  which 
they  themselves  lived  and  acted.  For  Knox  the 
one  all-absorbing  series  of  events  is  the  gradual 
schism  from  Rome  and  the  establishment  of  an 
independent  Church,  based  on  a  purer  concep- 
tion of  the  essentials  of  the  Christian  teaching. 
Buchanan's  aim  in  his  History  was,  of  course,  a 
more  general  one  than  that  of  Knox ;  yet,  had  he 
been  equally  absorbed  in  the  great  religious  revolu- 
tion, he  could  never  have  referred  to  it  in  the 
merely  casual  way  he  does. 

The  truth  is,  that  Buchanan  belonged  essen- 
tially to  that  class  which  we  now  recognise  as  dis- 
tinctively men  of  letters.    He  has  always  passed  for 

that  "  the  humanist  and  reformer  were  pretty  well  mixed  "  in  him.  In 
Buchanan,  of  course,  there  was  still  more  of  the  reformer,  seeing  that  he 
actually  identified  himself  with  the  Protestant  revolution. 


35G 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


the  most  famous  scholar  whom  Scotland  has  pro- 
duced, but  from  the  account  that  has  here  been  given 
of  his  work  it  must  be  clear  that  Buchanan  was 
no  scholar  like  Bude,  or  Casaubon,  or  the  younger 
Scaliger.  Their  life's  effort  was  to  add  to  our 
knowledge  of  classical  antiquity.  Buchanan  was 
regarded  by  his  contemporaries  as  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  age ;  ^  but  the  direction  of  his 
activity  was  far  from  being  that  of  the  scholar  pure 
and  simple.  Buchanan  is  best  described  as  a  man 
of  letters  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  used  Latin 
for  the  same  purpose  as  a  modern  writer  does  his 
mother  tongue.  In  his  own  fashion,  Buchanan  was 
a  general  critic  of  men  and  things,  like  Erasmus  him- 
self, though  he  had  neither  the  range  of  thought 
nor  the  flexibility  or  openness  of  mind  which  make 
Erasmus  the  supreme  type  of  his  class.  On  the 
other  hand,  Buchanan  undoubtedly  possessed  what 
Erasmus  with  all  his  gifts  cannot  claim — a  distinc- 
tive vein  of  genius  clearly  perceptible  under  all  his 
foreign  guise  and  artificial  inspiration. 

We  have  no  detailed  account  of  Buchanan's 
relations  with  a  single  friend  or  enemy,  such  as 
enable  us  to  mark  those  delicate  traits  that  dis- 
tinguish men  of  the  same  type  from  each  other. 
Of  his  general  aims  and  modes  of  thought,  however, 
of  the  total  impression  he  made  on  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  we  have  full  material  for 
forming  our  judgment.    In  view  of  the  course  the 

^  Turnebe  bears  testimony  to  Buchanan's  minute  knowledge  of  Latin. 
(Ruddiman,  Buchanani  0]pera,  vol,  ii.  p.  104).  In  Greek,  Buchanan, 
like  many  of  the  best  scholars  of  his  century,  was  self-taught.  Those 
of  his  contemporaries  best  entitled  to  have  an  opinion,  speak  of  him  as 
equally  learned  in  Greek  and  Latin.  Buchanan's  writings  certainly 
give  the  impression  of  very  wide  knowledge  in  all  the  learning  of  the 
time. 


CONCLUSION. 


367 


world  has  taken  since  his  day,  we  are  justified  in 
saying  that  Buchanan  was  on  the  side  with  which 
the  best  interests  of  the  future  lay.  In  the  reform 
of  studies  and  religion  alike,  the  part  he  took  gives 
him  a  distinct  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the  repre- 
sentative men  of  his  century.  In  his  own  country 
his  great  name  and  the  inspiration  of  his  example 
have  been  among  the  strongest  influences  in  main- 
taining the  tradition  of  the  higher  studies.  For 
such  studies  Scotland  has  always  had  the  most 
meagre  provision  ;  yet  in  every  generation  since 
Buchanan's  day  there  has  never  failed  a  line  of 
students  with  the  highest  ideals  in  learning 
and  national  education,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  to 
Buchanan,  more  than  to  any  other,  that  this  tradi- 
tion is  due.^  He  took  no  such  direct  part  as  Knox 
and  Andrew  Melville  in  the  religious  and  poHtical 
struggles  of  his  time.  The  main  direction  of  his 
influence,  however,  was  identical  with  theirs,  so 
that  he  has  his  own  merit  and  responsibility  for  the 
types  of  thought  and  feeling  which  the  world  now 
recognises  as  distinctively  Scottish.  Though  less 
obtrusive  than  that  of  Knox  and  Melville,  Buchanan's 
influence  on  subsequent  Scottish  politics  was  per- 
haps more  persuasive  and  permanently  active.  In 
his  History  of  Scotland  and  his  De  Jure  Regni,  the 
political  leaders  of  the  Scottish  people  during  the 
seventeenth  century  had  what  they  deemed  the 
classical  statement  of  the  principles  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  Buchanan's  universal  fame  as 
a  scholar  gave  a  weight  to  his  teaching  beyond  even 

1  Thus,  Calderwood  in  the  seventeenth  century  says,  "  No  man  did 
merit  better  of  his  nation  for  learning,  nor  thereby  did  bring  it  to  more 
glory."— Vol.  ii.  p.  300. 


358 


THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 


that  of  Melville  and  Knox.  It  is,  in  truth,  only  in 
comparatively  recent  times  that  the  work  of  these 
two  has  been  realised  in  all  its  significance.  In 
the  seventeenth  century  their  names  carried 
no  such  fulness  of  suggestion  as  they  now  imply 
for  us. 

In  Buchanan  s  literary  work,  what  first  strikes 
the  modern  reader  is  the  variety  of  forms  in  which 
his  genius  expressed  itself.  He  wrote  prose  and 
verse  indifferently,  and  verse  in  all  its  traditional 
classical  forms.  This  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  set 
down  to  any  undue  consciousness  of  universal  talent 
on  Buchanan's  part.  It  was  simply  because  the 
age  had  no  notion  of  special  talent  and  the  neces- 
sity for  its  special  direction.  Many  of  his  contem- 
poraries who  did  not  attain  to  the  fame  of  Buchanan 
displayed  their  powers  in  the  same  dispersive  fashion. 
Underlying  all  Buchanan's  work,  both  prose  and 
verse,  there  is  the  solid  foundation  of  strong  sense 
quickened  by  strong  feeling,  and  this  for  Buchanan's 
age,  with  all  its  fatuous  pedantries  and  afiectations, 
is  praise  that  can  be  estimated  only  after  some 
acquaintance  with  his  contemporary  humanists.  In 
his  History  of  Scotland  there  is  no  suggestion  of  the 
great  original  thinker ;  but  in  the  firm  texture  of 
its  style,  and  the  logical  process  of  the  narrative, 
we  feel  ourselves  always  in  contact  with  a  mind 
eminently  sane,  and  a  character  bent  on  making 
itself  felt  on  every  page  that  he  wrote.  Verse, 
however,  and  not  prose,  was  Buchanan's  natural 
language.  He  tells  us  this  himself,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  he  judged  himself  aright.  The 
range  of  his  poetical  faculty  is  certainly  remarkable. 
In  Franciscanits  we  have  humour  as  broad  as  that 


CONCLUSION. 


359 


of  The  Jolly  Beggars,  and  in  his  version  of  the 
Psalms  there  is  a  strain  of  spiritual  feeling  which 
not  even  its  artificial  form  can  wholly  obscure. 
That  he  had  a  delicate  play  of  fancy,  both  sportive 
and  serious,  many  of  his  shorter  pieces  prove  be- 
yond a  doubt ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  read  his  ode 
on  the  First  of  May,  and  not  recognise  that  on 
occasion  he  had  also  at  command  the  special  note 
of  the  poetic  imagination. 

We  have  no  knowledge  of  Buchanan  in  any  of 
those  intimate  domestic  relations  which  alone  enable 
us  to  form  a  true  and  comprehensive  judgment  of  a 
man's  character  and  habitual  mood.  From  his  cor- 
respondence, however,  we  gather  that  he  inspired 
lasting  attachment  and  reverence  in  men  them- 
selves of  outstanding  worth  and  accomplishments. 
In  the  everyday  intercourse  of  life  the  charm  of 
his  manner  and  conversation  is  attested  by  friends 
and  foes  alike.  It  is  the  best  proof  of  his  strenu- 
ous individuality  that  his  friends  and  foes  speak 
of  him  with  the  same  keenness  of  feeling.  Those 
opposed  to  him  on  all  the  principles  that  under- 
lie human  life  spoke  of  him  in  terms  that  refute 
themselves  by  their  own  excess.  The  faults  of 
Buchanan,  as  has  been  said,  were  those  of  a 
powerful  nature.  In  the  pungency  of  his  satire, 
and  the  vehemence  of  his  denunciation,  he  seems 
when  tried  by  modern  standards  to  pass  the  limits 
of  generous  controversy.  Yet  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  in  this  matter  Buchanan  can  be  fairly 
judged  only  by  reference  to  the  licence  of  speech 
that  characterised  his  age,  and  especially  the 
generation  of  humanists  to  which  he  belonged. 
The  men  of  the  sixteenth  century  staked  life  and 


360  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

fortune  in  the  expression  of  their  convictions  ;  and 
in  controversy  carried  on  under  such  conditions, 
words  were  real  battles  and  not  mere  broadsides  of 
ink.  Whatever  his  defects,  Buchanan  through  his 
long  and  varied  career  was  faithful  to  the  ideal  of 
honourable  manhood.  He  had  little  care  for  those 
prizes  in  life  by  which  most  men  set  such  store.  His 
aims  were  all  of  the  noblest,  and  it  may  be  said 
that  only  with  his  life  did  he  abandon  them. 
Taking  him  all  in  all — having  regard  at  once  to 
the  variety  and  scope  of  his  work,  to  the  striking 
individuality  of  his  character,  and  to  the  fact  that 
for  nearly  two  centuries  he  stood  before  Europe  as 
the  one  man  of  genius  his  country  had  produced — 
we  seem  justified  in  asserting  that  in  the  history  of 
Scotland  there  is  not  a  greater  personality  than 
Buchanan.  Scotland  has  produced  more  original 
thinkers,  men  of  perhaps  higher  literary  genius,  of 
greater  practical  power ;  but  in  no  other  Scotsman 
do  we  find  conjoined  with  the  same  range  and 
quality  of  gifts  that  uniqueness  of  personal  charac- 
ter which,  in  its  blended  humour  and  austerity, 
recalls  to  us  certain  of  the  great  figures  of  classical 
antiquity. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  A. 


(Page  180.) 

To    THE    RIGHT  WORSHIPFULL,   MY  VERY   LOVINGE  FrEIND, 

Maister  Peter  Yonge,  Scholemaister  unto  the  Kinges 
Majestie  of  Scotland. 

After  my  verie  hartie  Commendacions.  Beinge  lately  mouid 
with  the  remembrance  of  my  Maister,  Mr.  G.  Buchanan,  by  the 
Sight  of  a  Booke  of  his,  De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos,  and  callinge 
to  Mynde  the  notable  Actes  of  his  Lyfe,  his  Studie,  his  Trauayle, 
his  Danger,  his  Wisdome,  his  Learninge,  and  to  be  short,  as 
muche  as  could  be  wished  in  a  Man ;  I  thought  the  Kinge  your 
Maister  more  happie  that  had  Buchanan  to  his  Maister,  then 
Alexander  the  Great,  that  had  Aristotell  his  Instructor.  I  thought 
you  very  lukye  that  had  his  daily  Company,  ioynid  in  Office  of 
lyke  Seruice,  and  thanckid  God  not  a  litle  for  my  self,  that  euer 
I  was  acquaintid  with  him.  For  one  that  hath  so  great 
acquaintance  as  he  hath  with  many  learnid,  and  Compaignons  of 
his  Lyfe,  and  that  hath  so  wel  deseruid  of  the  Worlde,  I  maruaille 
that  no  Man  hath  written  of  it :  beinge  a  thinge  so  common 
unto  all  famous  Personnes,  and  most  peculiar  to  the  best  learnid. 
Heerin  I  might  chieflie  blame  you,  my  good  Freind  Maister 
Yonge,  so  neere  unto  him,  so  deere  unto  him,  that  nothinge  can  be 
hid  of  that  which  you  desyre  to  knowe.  If  you  say  that  Tyme 
yeat  seruithe,  and  that  he  yeat  liuethe  whose  Life  I  wishe  to  be 
sett  foorthe,  surelie  yeat  I  say  unto  you,  that  yf  it  be  donne 
after  his  Deathe,  many  Thinges  may  be  omittid  that  were 
worthie  of  famous  Memorie,  by  him  to  be  better  knowen  then 
after  his  Deathe.  The  cause  of  the  wrytinge  against  the  Grey 
Friars  is  knowen  to  many,  but  afterwardes  howe  they  preuailed 
against  him,  that  he  was  fayne  to  leave  his  Contrey,  howe  he 
escapid  with  great  hazard  of  Lyfe  at  Godes  Hand,  the  Thieues 
on  the  Borders,  the  Plague  in  the  North  of  England,  what 
Reliefe  he  found  heere  at  a  famous  Knightes  Handes,  Sir  John 


364 


APPENDIX. 


Rainsforde,  the  onlie  Man  that  maintaynid  him  against  the  Furie 
of  the  Papistes  ;  none  doth  knowe  so  wel  as  him  self,  or  can  giue 
better  Notes  of  his  Life  then  him  self  can.  As  he  liuith 
vertuouslie,  so  I  doubt  not  but  he  will  dye  Christianly,  and  may- 
be addid,  when  the  former  is  perfectlie  knowen.  This  is  desired 
by  many,  specially  looked  for  at  your  Handes,  that  can  best 
doe,  and  are  fittest  to  trauayle  in  so  worthie  a  Worke.  As  I 
craue  this  at  your  Handes,  so  shall  you  command  what  is  in  my 
Power.  And  thus  wishinge  unto  yow,  my  good  Freind,  hartely 
well,  I  take  my  leave.    London,  the  15th  of  Marche,  1579. 

Your  verie  lovinge  Frende 

Tho.  Randolphe.1 


Georgii  Buchanani 
Vita 

Ab  ipso  scripta  biennio  ante  mortem. 

Georgius  Buchananus  in  Levinia  Scotiae  provincia  natus  est, 
ad  Blanum  amnem,  anno  salutis  Christianae  millesimo  quin- 
gentesimo  sexto,  circa  Kalendas  Februarias,  in  villa  rustica, 
familia  magis  vetusta  quam  opulenta.  Patre  in  juventae  robore 
ex  dolore  calculi  exstincto,  avoque  adhuc  vivo  decoctore,  familia 
ante  tenuis  pene  ad  extremam  inopiam  est  redacta.  Matris 
tamen  Agnetis  Heriotae  diligentia  liberi  quinque  mares  et  tres 
puellae  ad  maturam  aetatem  pervenerunt.  Ex  iis  Georgium 
avunculus  Jacobus  Heriotus,  cum  in  Scholis  patriis  spem  de 
ingenio  ejus  concepisset,  Lutetiam  amandavit.  Ibi  cum  studiis 
literarum,  maxime  carminibus  scribendis,  operam  dedisset, 
partim  naturae  impulsu,  partim  necessitate  (quod  hoc  unum 
studiorum  genus  adolescentiae  proponebatur)  intra  biennium 
avunculo  mortuo,  et  ipse  gravi  morbo  correptus,  ac  undique 
inopia  circumventus,  redire  ad  suos  est  coactus. 

Cum  in  patria  valetudini  curandae  prope  annum  dedisset, 

1  In  the  concluding  sentence  of  the  following  Latin  sketch  of  his  life, 
it  is  stated  that  Buchanan  was  in  his  seventy-second  year  when  it  was 
written.  From  this  we  should  infer  that  it  was  written  before  Randolph's 
letter.  But  the  phrase  *' septuagesimum  quartum  annum  agens"  should 
not,  perhaps,  be  taken  too  literally.  Ruddiman  was  of  opinion  that 
Randolph's  letter  was  the  occasion  of  Buchanan's  writing  his  auto- 
biography. 


APPENDIX. 


365 


cum  auxiliis  Gallorum,  qui  turn  in  Scotiam  appulerant, 
studio  rei  militaris  cognoscendae  in  castra  est  profectus.  Sed 
cum  ea  expeditione  prope  inutili,  hieme  asperrima  per  altis- 
simas  nives  reduceretur  exercitus,  rursus  in  valetudinem  ad- 
versam  incidit,  quae  tota  ilia  hieme  lecto  affixum  tenuit. 
Primo  vere  ad  Fanum  Andreae  missus  est,  ad  Joannem 
Majorem  audiendum,  qui  tum  ibi  dialecticen,  aut  verius  so- 
phisticen,  in  extrema  senectute  docebat.  Hunc  in  Galliam 
aestate  proxima  sequutus,  in  flammam  Lutheranae  sectae,  jam 
late  se  spargentem,  incidit :  ac  biennium  fere  cum  iniqui- 
tate  fortunae  colluctatus,  tandem  in  Collegium  Barbaranum 
accitus,  prope  triennium  classi  grammaticam  discentium  praefuit. 
Interea  cum  Gilbertus  Cassilissae  comes,  adolescens  nobilis,  in 
ea  vicinia  diversaretur,  atque  ingenio  et  consuetudine  ejus 
oblectaretur,  eum  quinquennium  secum  retinuit,  atque  in 
Scotiam  una  reduxit. 

Inde  cum  in  Galliam  ad  pristina  studia  redire  cogitaret,  a 
rege  est  retentus,  ac  Jacobo  filio  notho  erudiendo  praepositus. 
Interea  pervenit  ad  Franciscanos  elegidion  per  otium  ab  eo 
fusum,  in  quo  se  scribit  per  somnium  a  D.  Francisco  sollicitari, 
ut  ejus  ordini  se  adjungat.  In  eo  cum  unum  aut  alteram 
verbum  liberius  in  eos  emissum  esset,  tulerunt  id  homines  man- 
suetudinem  professi,  aliquanto  asperius,  quam  patres,  tam  vulgi 
opinione  pios,  ob  leviculam  culpam  decere  videbatur :  et  cum 
non  satis  justas  irae  suae  immodicae  causas  invenirent,  ad  com- 
mune religionis  crimen,  quod  omnibus  quibus  male  propitii  erant 
intentabant,  decurrunt :  et  dum  impotentiae  suae  indulgent, 
ilium  sponte  sua  sacerdotum  licentiae  infensum  acrius  incendunt, 
et  Lutheranae  caussae  minus  iniquum  reddunt. 

Interea  rex  e  Gallia  cum  Magdalena  uxore  venit,  nec  sine 
metu  sacrificulorum,  qui  timebant,  ne  puella  regia,  sub  amitae 
reginae  Navarrae  disciplina  educata,  nonnihil  in  religione  muta- 
ret.  Sed  hie  timor  brevi  secuto  ejus  decessu  evanuit.  Subse- 
cutae  sunt  in  aula  suspiciones  adversus  quosdam  e  nobilitate 
qui  contra  regem  conjurasse  dicebantur.  In  ea  caussa  cum  regi 
fuisset  persuasum,  non  satis  sincere  versatos  Franciscanos,  rex 
Buchananum,  forte  tum  in  aula  agentem,  ad  se  advocat  et 
ignarus  ^  ofFensionis,  quae  ei  cum  Franciscanis  esset,  jubet  ad- 
versus eos  carmen  scribere.  Ille  utrosque  juxta  metuens  offen- 
dere,  carmen  quidem  scripsit,  et  breve,  et  quod  ambiguam 
^  As  has  been  pointed  out,  we  must  here  read  gnarus. 


366 


APPENDIX. 


interpretationem  susciperet.  Sed  nec  regi  satisfecit,  qui  acre  et 
aculeatum  poscebat ;  et  illis  capitale  visum  est,  quenquam  ipsos 
nisi  honorifice  ausum  attingere.  Igitur  acrius  in  eos  jussus 
scribere,  earn  Silvam,  quae  nunc  sub  titulo  Franciscani  est  edita, 
inchoatam  regi  tradidit.  At  brevi  post  per  amicos  ex  aula 
certior  factus  se  peti,  et  Cardinalem  Betonium  a  rege  pecunia 
vitam  ejus  mercari,  elusis  custodibus  in  Angliam  contendit. 

Sed  ibi  turn  omnia  adeo  erant  incerta,  ut  eodem  die  ac  eodem 
igne  utriusque  factionis  homines  cremarentur,  Henrico  viii.  jam 
seniore  suae  magis  securitati  quam  religionis  puritati  intento. 
Haec  rerum  Anglicarum  incertitude,  et  vetus  cum  Gallis  consue- 
tudo,  et  summa  gentis  humanitas,  Buchananum  ad  se  traxerunt. 
Ut  Lutetiam  venit,  Cardinalem  Betonium  pessime  erga  se  ani- 
matum  ibi  legatione  fungi  comperit.  Itaque  ejus  irae  se  sub- 
traxit,  Burdegalam  invitante  Andrea  Goveano  profectus. 

Ibi  in  scholis,  quae  tum  sumptu  publico  erigebantur,  trien- 
nium  docuit :  quo  tempore  scripsit  quatuor  tragoedias,  quae 
postea  per  occasiones  fuerunt  evulgatae.  Sed  quae  prima  om- 
nium fuerat  conscripta  (cui  nomen  est  Baptista)  ultima  fuit 
edita  ;  ac  deinde  Medea  Euripidis.  Eas  enim  ut  consuetudini 
scholae  satisfaceret,  quae  per  annos  singulos  singulas  poscebat 
fabulas,  conscripserat :  ut  earum  actione  juventutem  ab  allegoriis, 
quibus  tum  Gallia  vehementer  se  oblectabat,  ad  imitationem 
veterum,  qua  posset,  retraheret.  Id  cum  ei  prope  ultra  spem 
successisset,  reliquas  Jephtlim  et  Alcestin  paulo  diligentius,  tan- 
quam  lucem  et  hominum  conspectum  laturas,  elaboravit.  Sed 
nec  id  temporis  omnino  ei  fuit  expers  sollicitudinis,  inter  car- 
dinalis  et  Franciscanorum  minas.  Cardinalis  etiam  de  eo  com- 
prehendendo  ad  archiepiscopum  Burdegalensem  literas  misit: 
sed  eas  forte  fortuna  Buchanani  amantissimis  dederat.  Sed 
hunc  metum  regis  Scotorum  mors,  et  pestis  per  Aquitaniam 
saevissime  grassata  sedavit. 

Interea  literae  a  rege  Lusitaniae  supervenerunt,  quae  Gove- 
anum  juberent,  ut  homines  Graecis  et  Latinis  literis  eruditos 
secum  adduceret,  qui  in  scholis,  quas  ille  tum  magna  cura  et 
impensis  moliebatur,  literas  humaniores  et  philosophiae  Aris- 
totelicae  rudimenta  interpretarentur.  Ea  de  re  conventus 
Buchananus  facile  est  assensus.  Nam  cum  totam  jam  Europam 
bellis  domesticis  et  externis,  aut  jam  flagrantem,  aut  mox  con- 
flagraturam  videret,  ilium  unum  videbat  angulum  a  tumultibus 
liberum  futurum,  et  in  eo  coetu  qui  eam  profectionem  suscep- 


APPENDIX. 


367 


erant,  non  tarn  peregrinari,  quam  inter  propinquos  et  familiares 
agere  existimaretur.  Erant  enim  plerique  per  multos  annos 
summa  benevolentia  conjuncti,  ut  qui  ex  suis  monumentis  orbi 
claruerunt,  Nicolaus  Gruchius,  Gulielmus  Garentaeus,  Jacobus 
Tevius,  et  Elias  Vinetus.  Itaque  non  solum  se  comitem  libenter 
dedit,  sed  et  Patricio  fratri  persuasit,  ut  se  tarn  praeclaro  coetui 
conjungeret.  Et  principio  quidem  res  praeclare  successit,  donee 
in  medio  velut  cursu  Andreas  Goveanus  morte,  ipse  quidem  non 
immatura,  comitibus  ejus  acerba,  praereptus  est.  Omnes  enim 
inimici  et  aemuli  in  eos  primum  ex  insidiis,  deinde  palam  animo 
plane  gladiatorio  incurrerunt :  et  cum  per  homines  reis  inimicis- 
simos  questionem  clam  exercuissent,  tres  arripuerunt,  quos,  post 
longum  carceris  squalorem,  in  judicium  productos,  multis  per 
eos  dies  conviciis  exagitatos,  rursus  in  custodiam  abdiderunt. 
Accusatores  autem  ne  adhuc  quidem  nominarunt. 

In  Buchananum  certe  acerbissime  insultabant,  ut  qui  pere- 
grinus  esset,  et  qui  minime  multos  illic  haberet  qui  incolumitate 
gauderent,  aut  dolori  ingemiscerent,  aut  injuriam  ulcisci  con- 
arentur.  Objiciebatur  ei  carmen  in  Franciscanos  scriptum,  quod 
ipse,  antequam  e  Galliis  exisset,  apud  Lusitaniae  regem  excusan- 
dum  curavit,  nec  accusatores  quale  esset  sciebant ;  unum  enim 
ejus  exemplum  regi  Scotorum,  qui  scribendi  auctor  fuerat,  erat 
datum.  Crimini  dabatur  carnium  esus  in  Quadragesima,  a  qua 
nemo  in  tota  Hispania  est  qui  abstineat ;  dicta  quaedam  oblique 
in  monachos  objecta,  quae  apud  neminem  nisi  monachum  crimi- 
nosa  videri  poterant.  Item  gravissime  acceptum,  quod  in 
quodam  sermone  familiari  inter  aliquot  adolescentes  Lusitanos, 
cum  fuisset  orta  mentio  de  eucharistia,  dixisset,  sibi  videri 
Augustinum  in  partem  ab  ecclesia  Eomana  damnatam  multo 
esse  proniorem.  Alii  duo  testes,  Joannes  Tolpinus  ^  Normannus, 
et  Joannes  Ferrerius  e  Subalpina  Liguria,  (ut  post  aliquot  annos 
comperit)  pro  testimonio  dixerunt,  se  ex  pluribus  hominibus 
fide  dignis  audivisse,  Buchananum  de  Eomana  religione  per- 
peram  sentire.  Ut  ad  rem  redeam,  cum  quaestores  prope 
sesquiannum  et  se  et  ilium  fatigassent,  tandem  ne  frustra 
hominem  non  ignotum  vexasse  crederentur,  eum  in  monasterium 
ad  aliquot  menses  recludunt,  ut  exactius  erudiretur  a  monachis, 
hominibus  quidem  alioqui  nec  inhumanis,  nec  malis,  sed  omnis 
religionis  ignaris.  Hoc  maxime  tempore  psalmorum  Davidi- 
corum  complures  vario  carminum  genere  in  numeros  redegit. 
1  Talpinus.    Cf.  p.  134  (above). 


368 


APPENDIX. 


Tandem  libertati  redditus,  cum  a  rege  commeatum  redeundi 
in  Gallias  peteret,  ab  eo  rogatus  ut  illic  maneret,  pecuniola  in- 
terim accepta  in  sumptum  quotidianum,  donee  de  conditione 
aliqua  honesta  prospiceretur.  Sed  cum  procrastinationis,  nec  in 
certam  spem,  nec  certum  tempus,  taederet,  navem  Cretensem  in 
portu  Olisipponensi  nactus,  in  ea  in  Angliam  navigavit.  Nec 
hie  tamen  substitit  quamvis  honestis  conditionibus  invitaretur. 
Erant  enim  illic  omnia  adhuc  turbida  sub  rege  adolescente,  pro- 
ceribus  discordibus,  et  populi  adhuc  animis  tumescentibus  ab 
recenti  motu  civili.  Igitur  in  Galliam  transmisit,  iisdem  fere 
diebus,  quibus  urbis  Mediomatricum  obsidio  fuit  soluta.  Coac- 
tus  est  ibi  per  amicos  ea  de  obsidione  carmen  scribere,  idque  eo 
magis  invitus,  quod  non  libenter  in  contentionem  veniret  cum 
aliis  plerisque  necessariis,  et  in  primis  cum  Mellino  Saiigelasio, 
cujus  carmen  eruditum  et  elegans  ea  de  re  circumferebatur. 

Inde  evocatus  in  Italiam  a  Carolo  Cossaeo  Brixiacensi,  qui 
tum  secunda  fama  res  in  Ligustico  et  Gallico  circa  Padum  agro 
gerebat,  nunc  in  Italia,  nunc  in  Gallia,  cum  tilio  ejus  Timoleonte 
quinquennium  haesit,  usque  ad  annum  millesimum  quingentesi- 
mum  sexagesimum.  Quod  tempus  maxima  ex  parte  dedit 
sacrarum  literarum  studio,  ut  de  controversiis,  quae  tum  ma- 
jorem  hominum  partem  exercebant,  exactius  dijudicare  posset ; 
quae  tum  domi  conquiescere  coeperant,  Scotis  a  tyrannide  Gui- 
siana  libera  tis.  Eo  re  versus  nomen  ecclesiae  Scotorum  dedit. 
E  superiorum  autem  temporum  scriptis  quaedam  velut  e  nau- 
fragio  recollecta  edidit.  Caetera  vero  quae  adhuc  apud  amicos 
peregrinantur,  fortunae  arbitrio  committit.  In  praesentia  sep- 
tuagesimum  quartum  annum  agens,  apud  Jacobum  Sextum 
Scotorum  regem,  cui  erudiendo  erat  praefectus,  senectutis  suae 
malis  fractae  portum  exoptans  agit. 

Haec  de  se  Buchananus,  amicorum  rogatu. 
Obiit  Edinburgi,  paulo  post  horam  quintam  matutinam,  die 
Veneris  xxviii.  Septembris,  anno  m.d.lxxxii. 

George  Chalmers,  in  his  Life  of  Ruddiman  (p.  68,  note)  dog- 
matically asserts  that  the  above  sketch  was  not  written  by 
Buchanan  but  by  Peter  Young.  "  The  writer,"  he  says,  "  who- 
ever he  were,  talks  of  John  Major  as  being  in  extrema  senectute 
in  1524,  when  he  was  but  fifty-five.  He  speaks  of  Henry  viii. 
as  jam  senioi'e  in  1539,  when  he  was  but  forty-eight.  He 


APPENDIX. 


369 


makes  Buchanan  meet  Cardinal  Beaton  at  Paris  in  1539,  a 
twelvemonth  after  he  had  returned  to  Scotland."  These 
objections  are  groundless.  As  every  one  acquainted  with  the 
sixteenth  century  knows,  a  man  at  fifty  was  then  considered  far 
advanced  in  life.  With  regard  to  Beaton,  the  State  Papers  of 
Henry  viii.  (v.  154  and  156)  distinctly  state  that  he  was  in  Paris 
that  year.  In  one  point  there  is  an  inaccuracy  in  the  sketch. 
It  leads  us  to  infer  that  Buchanan  went  to  St.  Andrews  the 
spring  following  Albany's  expedition,  that  is,  the  spring  of 
1523-4,  whereas  Buchanan's  entry  of  matriculation  in  the  Uni- 
versity records  is  of  the  date  1524-5.  There  seems  hardly 
any  reason,  however,  for  questioning  Buchanan's  authorship  of 
the  document.  The  general  texture  of  the  style  is  certainly 
Buchanan's ;  and  there  are  touches  here  and  there  (notably  the 
account  of  the  Portuguese  expedition)  which,  as  we  think,  could 
only  have  come  from  him.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  there 
was  any  one  in  Scotland  save  Buchanan  himself  who  could  have 
written  Latin  with  such  strength  and  incisiveness. 


2  A 


APPENDIX  B. 


(Page  76.) 

The  following  extracts,  which  I  have  had  copied  from  the 
archives  of  the  University  of  Paris,^  are  Buchanan's  own 
record  of  his  procuratorship.  They  are  interesting  not  only 
as  a  part  of  Buchanan's  own  biography,  but  also  as  afford- 
ing a  curious  glimpse  into  the  university  life  of  the  time. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Buchanan  does  not  depart  from  the 
official  dog-Latin  of  his  predecessors.  But  even  in  these 
meagre  official  notes  he  shows  his  sarcastic  humour. 

M.  EoBERTi  Wauchop.  [1529] 

Quinto  maii  anni  supradicti  congregata  fuit  invictissima  Ger- 
manorum  natio  apud  divum  Mathurinum  super  procuratoris 
electione  et  ad  audiendum  partes  de  discordia  inter  Magistrum 
Georgium  Drappier  et  Magistrum  Georgium  Bochanane  Scotum 
magistros  et  regentes  prefate  nationis,  quorum  uterque  dicebat 
se  procuratorem  fuisse,  nam  Drappier  allegabat  turnum  pertinere 
ad  altos  Alemanos  et  se  fuisse  functum  procuratorio  magistratu 
pro  vice  bassorum,  precedente  procuratorio,  insuper  quod  erat 
continuatus  ab  omnibus  altis  septima  Aprilis.  Alter  vero,  scilicet 
Bochanane,  allegabat  se  fuisse  electum  legitime  ab  omnibus  Scotis 
et  Anghs  qui  constituebant  provinciam  Britannorum  juxta 
statutum  M[agistri]  Roberti  Fergusson  factum  de  duabus  pro- 
vinciis,  et  virtute  ejusdem  statuti  dicebat  vicem  electionis 
pertinere  ad  prefatos.  Insuper  dixit  Drappier  conclusisse  a 
pauciore  numero  et  decanum  nationis  conclusisse  recte  pro  eo 
et  eum  in  possessionem  posuisse,  etc.  .  .  . 

^  Biblioth^que  de  I'Universit^  ;  Archives  :  Registre  16,  fol.  169vo  174. 


APPENDIX. 


371 


Sequitur  Procuratura  Georgii  Buchanam 
Leviniani  Scoti  anno  1529. 

Anno  domini  millesimo  [quingentesimo]  vicesimo  nono  die  vero 
tertia  mensis  Junii  convocata  fuit  fidelissima  Germanorum  natio 
apud  sedem  divi  Mathurini  duobus  super  articulis  consultura. 
Primus  concernebat  novi  procuratoris  electionem,  secundus 
communis  erat  supplicationibus  et  injuriis.  Quod  ad  primum 
articulum  spectat  a  decano  provincie  Scotorum  nominatus  est 
Georgius  Buchananus  Levinianus  dioeceseos  Glasguensis  e 
comitatu  Leviniae  et  omnium  communi  consensu  procurator 
electus  quistatim  prestito  jurejurando  et  inito  magistratu  gratias 
egit  nationi  pro  tam  propenso  erga  se  animo  et  supplicuit  ut 
natio  ei  favorem  consilium  et  auxilium  in  omnibus  prestaret. 

Georgius  Buchananus. 

Eodem  anno  et  mense  die  xix.  convocata  fuit  universitas  in 
templum  divi  Mathurini  quinque  super  articulis  consultura : 
primus  concernebat  processionem  rectoris  quam  quominus  fieret 
die  qua  constituerat  rector  impediebat  mandatum  regium  qui 
per  dominum  episcopum  parisiensem  mandaverat  ut  fieret  omnium 
parechiarum  generalis  processio  pro  pace  impetranda.  Statutum 
est  ut  rectoris  processio  in  diem  lunse  difFerretur  protestatione 
facta  ne  id  in  fraud  em  privilegiorum  universitatis  fieret. 
Secundus  articulus  communis  erat  supplicationibus  et  injuriis. 

Eodem  anno  et  mense  die  vero  vigesima  tertia  congregata 
fuit  [natio]  Germanorum  super  electione  intrantis  apud  sedem 
Cosme  et  Damiani  super  duobus  articulis  deliberatura.  Quo- 
ad primum  qui  electionem  intrantis  concernebat,  decanus  pro- 
vincise  Scotorum  exhibuit  et  presentavit  virum  egregie  doctum 
Magistrum  Eobertum  Fergushil  qui  prestito  juramento  et  solitis 
ceremoniis  peractis,  omnium  consensu  admissus  est.  Secundus 
communis  erat  supplicationibus  et  injuriis. 

Eodem  mense  pridie  divi  Joannis  Baptiste  convocata  fuit 
Germanorum  natio  apud  edem  Cosme  et  Damiani  deliberatura 
super  duobus  articulis.  Primus  qui  electionem  intrantis  specta- 
bat,  secundus  vero  communis.  Quoad  primum  decanus  Scotorum 
cujus  turn  iuris  erat  presentavit  egregie  doctum  et  idoneum 
magistrum  Robertum  Fergushil,  qui,  prestito  juramento,  ab 
omnibus  admissus  est. 

Eodem  die  paulo  post  facultas  artium  ad  divum  Julianum 


372 


APPENDIX. 


congregata  super  electione  rectoris.  Ibi  acta  per  magistrum 
Ludovicum  Fabrum  defunctum  rectorem  habita  sunt  rata  et 
gratie  acte  ab  intrantibus  post  rem  divinam  auditam,  via  spiritus 
sancti  electus  est  rector  vir  doctissimus  Hylarius  Cortesius  et 
ejus  supplicationi  ut  dispensaretur  de  diebus  legibilibus  annuit 
facultas. 

Nono  die  mensis  Julii  congregata  fuit  Germanorum  natio  apud 
divum  Mathurinum  super  provisione  nunciatus  Lismorensis  in 
Scotia  per  mortem  vacantis.  Electus  est  nuncius  Joannes  de  Puys. 

XXIII.  die  Julii  apud  Mathurinos  Petrus  Lamy  factus  est 
nuncius  dioeceseos  Existerciensis  per  mortem  Egidii  Sumel. 
Item  Petrus  Belin  nuncius  Clusiensis  per  resignationem. 

Eodem  anno  die  ^  mensis  Augusti  collecta  facultas  fuit  apud 
divum  Julianum  super  appellatione  domini  Joannis  Benedict! 
adversus  Claudium  Eoillet  primarium  collegii  Burgundiorum. 
Natio  dedit  deputatos  magistros  Eobertum  Vauchop  et  Joannem 
Douglas.  Georgius  Buchananus. 

Pridie  divi  Barthomei  congregata  fuit  universitas  ad  Mathurini 
super  duobus  articulis  quorum  primo  Universitas  promisit 
auxilium  et  favorem  rectori.  Secundo  :  multi  supplicuerunt  ut 
reciperentur  in  locum  Pergamenarii  mortui.  Nostra  natio  elegit 
Antonium  Monpignon.  Reliquse  vero  nationes  et  facultates 
elegerunt  Petrum  Petit.  Tertio  :  supplicuit  procurator  Univer- 
sitatis  ut  reficeretur  sigillum  Rectoris.  Cui  ab  omnibus  assensum. 
Quarto  :  supplicuit  quidam  preceptor  collegii  Coqueretici  Petrus 
Tyllier  nomine  cujusdam  preceptoris  eiusdem  collegii  qui  iniuste 
in  carceres  censoris  criminum  coniectus  erat.  Item,  nomine 
cuiusdam  pedagogi  qui  in  carceribus  officialis  Parisiensis  detine- 
batur  per  virum  insigni  crudelitate  et  avaritia  primarium  collegii 
Coqueretici  ob  panem  unius  assis  ab  eis  comestum,  et  utriusque 
epistolas  super  ea  re  protulit,  Natio  ex  consensu  etiam  totius 
facultatis  prefecit  virum  gravissimum  magistrum  Martinum 
Doletium  qui  incarceratos  repeteret.  Primarium  vero  privavit 
privilegiis  Universitatis  quod  contra  statutum  fecisset  quod 
prohibet  quempiara  Universitati  subiectum  vocari  in  ius  ante 
alium  judicem  priusquam  vocetur  ante  rectorem,  et  tota  facultas 
undem  refractarium  iudicavit  iussitque  reformatores  adire  col- 
legium Coqueretici  et  pro  magistratu  agere  et  tumultus  com- 
ponere.  Georgius  Buchananus. 

^  The  day  is  omitted  in  the  original  text. 


APPENDIX. 


373 


CoNTiNUATio  Magistri  Georgii  Buchanani  Levinii. 

Postridie  divi  Barthomei  apostoli  Germanorum  natio  congregata 
fuit  ad  divi  Mathurini  in  qua  congregatione  procurator  omnium 
consensu  in  proximum  mensem  continuatus  est  gratiasque 
maximas  nationi  egit  et  suam  operam  sedulam  et  fidelem  eidem 
est  pollicitus.  Georgius  Buchananus. 

Congregata  fuit  f acultas  artium  apud  sanctum  Julianum  super 
novem  articulis  deliberatura.     Primus  erat  de  danda  nomen- 
clatura  regentum  juratorum  domino  rectori  cui  in  forma  assen- 
sum.     Secundus  de  salutandis   procuratoribus   nationum  ad 
convivia  supplicationum  rectoriarum  veluti  salutantur  decani 
facultatum,  de  quo  articulo  ita  decretum  est  ut  cum  facultas 
ostendat  sese  maxime  liberalem  in  externos,  indignum  esse  suos 
negligi;  rursus  dignum  esse  ut  mutua  benevolentia  procuratores   Quod  si  invitati 
cum  rectore  certent  ideo  invitandos  esse  procuratores  ;  rursus  ut  teneai^tur^venfre 
procuratores  post  prandium  cappati  rectorem  ad  Mathurinos  rectoris?^^^^°"^"* 
usque  comitentur.    Tertius  articulus  super  negocio  pergamena- 
riorum  iuratorum  qui  nocent  iuri  rectoris.    Decretum  ut  statuta 
antiqua  servarentur.    Quartus  ut  scriba  denuo  publicitus  repetat 
conclusiones  factas  a  domino  rectore  vel  in  facultate  vel  in 
Universitate,  cui  conclusioni  maxime  assensum  est. 

Quintus  ut  qui  recturi  sunt  proferant  literas  gradus  in  sua 
natione  ante  quam  admittantur  propter  nonnullos  abusus. 
Huic  item  assensum.  Sextus  super  querimonia  cuiusdam 
regentis  volentis  repetere  via  juris  supellectilem  quam  dicit 
detineri  ab  avarissima  harpya  magistro  Roberto  Dugast  primario 
collegii  Coqueretici ;  quem  idem  regens  vocavit  in  ius  coram 
eadem  facultate.  Dictus  vero  primarius  solita  pervicacia  usus 
non  comparuit.  Septimus  super  supplicatione  Magistri  Jacobi 
Staphet  volentis  repetere  quemdam  quem  asserit  tum  scolasticum 
esse  qui,  uti  ait  idem  Staphet,  divertit  alio  ad  capessendum 
ingenii  cultum.  Quem  scho[la]sticum  qui  se  non  suo  arbitrio 
id  facere  negabat,  sed  servire  cuidam  mercatori,  et  cum  sepe 
cubiculum  petiisset  in  collegio  Plessiaco  non  impetrasse.  Ideo 
voluntate  mercatoris  predicti  se  ad  collegium  Cenonense  contulit, 
asserens  se  tantum  novem  menses  in  collegio  Plessiaco  fuisse. 
Itaque  permissum  est  ut  illic  maneret. 

Octavus  ut  nullus  rector  permittat  sigillatori  suo  signare 
litteras  vectigales  testimonials  citationes  aut  alia  id  genus, 


374 


APPENDIX. 


veluti  fiunt  multe  obsignationes  passim,  uti  dicitur,  in  fide 
parentum;  idque  se  facturum,  si  opus,  rector  iuret  quando 
elegetur.  Cui  articulo  assensum  cum  etiam  id  iuret  rector  se 
servaturum  privilegia.  Nonus  erat  communis  supplicationibus 
et  iniuriis.  G.  B. 

Kalendis  septembribus  fidelissima  Germanorum  natio  necnon 
reliqua  Universitas  apud  divum  Mathurinum  congregata  fuit 
super  duobus  articulis  consultura. 

Primus,  resignationem  questure  generalis;  secundus,  communis 
supplicationibus  et  iniuriis.  Quod  ad  primum  spectat  articulum, 
natio  admisit  resignationem  et  iussit  ut  defunctus  receptor 
pecuniarum  acceptarum  rationem  redderet  intra  mensem  et  in 
locum  eius  substituit  virum  probum  i  primarium 

coUegii  Thesaurariorum  voluitque  ut  in  singulis  annis  sine  uUa 
delatione  computum  redderet.  Quoad  secundum,  supplicatum 
est  ut  nomen  cuiusdam  rectoris  in  album  et  catalogum  aliorum 
rectorum  inseretur.  Cujusdam  supplicationi  assensit  natio 
oravitque  ut  idem  in  aliis  quibus  fieret,  cum  negligentia  quor- 
umdam  nomina  rectorum  et  tempus  magistratus  non  satis 
constet ;  ut  que  comperirentur  in  catalogum  aliorum  referrentur, 
subscripto  anno  et  mense  ;  et  ita  per  rectorem  conclusum  est. 

Eodem  anno  decima  octava  die  mensis  septembris  facta  est 
congregatio  Universitatis  apud  divum  Mathurinum  super  tribus 
articulis.  Primus  concernebat  resignationem  cuiusdam  sacellaniae. 
Secundus  vero  causam  Eoberti  Dugast  primarii  collegii  Coquereti, 
qui  ter  contumax  fuerat ;  bis  quia  non  comparuit  cum  citatus 
esset.  Tertio  vero  cum  comparuisset  appellavit  a  rectore  et  ad 
quesita  reddere  recusavit.  Tertius  communis  erat  supplicationi- 
bus et  iniurii[s].  Supplicatum  est  nomine  cuiusdam  magistri 
incarcerati  ut  pecunia  ei  pro  victu  impenderetur.  Quod  ad 
primum  spectat  articulum,  natio  censuit  non  admittendam  esse 
resignationem  nisi  constaret  ilium  cui  fiebat  resignatio  gradum 
Parisii  in  aliqua  facultate  suscepisse ;  et  cum  compertum  esset 
eum  omnino  juramento  rectorio  non  adactum  esse,  nihilominus 
in  favorem  theologorum  alie  facultates  eum  admittebant  ad 
sacellaniam  ea  lege  ut  intra  quindecim  dies  iuraret ;  quod  cum 
in  fraudem  commodorum  Universitatis  fieret,  appellavit  vir 
gravissimus  procurator  Universitatis  magister  Martinus  Dolet ; 
ob  cuius  appellationem  consensu  omnium  res  dilata  fuit  in  proxima 
1  A  word  omitted  in  text. 


APPENDIX. 


375 


comitia.  Quod  ad  secundum  spectat,  egit  pro  se  dictus  Eobertus 
Dugast  cum  multis  gratiis  adversus  rectorem,  cui  modestissimus 
rector  Hylarius  Cortesius  modestissime  pariter  et  doctissime 
respondit  et  eius  maledicta  refellit.  Supplicavit  etiam  Magister 
Philippus  Eoguet,  qui  dictum  Dugast  in  ius  vocaverat,  ut  sibi 
redderetur  sua  supellex  iniuste  detenta  a  dicto  Dugast  et 
obligatio  quedam  quam  ei  dederat  qua  pecuniam  promiserat  ei 
cum  ad  regendum  admissus  fuit.  Cum  tamen  id  contra  statuta 
Universitatis  esset,  ad  eam  rem  dati  sunt  deputati  qui  de  dicta 
causa  iudicarent  et  morem  legendi  in  collegiis  respicerent.  Sup- 
plicationi  incarcerati  annuit  natio.  De  summa  vero  que  ei 
daretur,  id  ad  deputatos  remisit.  Annuit  item  supplicationi 
Bede,  videlicet  ne  dialectica  Melancthonis  prelegeretur  pueris 
cursum  inchoantibus. 

Vigesimo  die  mensis  eiusdem  facta  est  congregatio  venerande 
nationis  Germanorum  apud  Mathurinos  super  tribus  articulis. 
Primus  erat  de  admissione  Germanorum  quos  bassos  vocant  ad 
jura  pristina  nationis  que  pro  tertia  congregatione  celebrata  est. 
Secundus  spectabat  election  em  novi  rectoris.  Tertius  communis 
erat  supplicationibus  et  iniuriis.  Quod  ad  primum  spectat,  natio 
Germanos  admisit  revocando  statutum  de  duabus  provinciis 
secundum  congregationem  prius  factam,  nempe  ut  tres  essent 
provincie  quarum  prima  esset  superiorum  Germanorum, 
secunda  Scotorum,  tertia  Germanorum  inferiorum  et  Anglorum. 
Statutum  tum  tertio  ut  illud  inviolabiliter  observaretur, 
consentibus  (sic)  omnibus  Germanis  bassis  qui  aderant. 
Aderant  autem  quatuor  magistri  Cornelius  Ceratinus  et  Hugo 
et  Gerardus  Morrhius  et  quorum  consensum  suo  decreto 
confirmavit  reliqua  natio.  Quod  ad  secundum,  dati  sunt  ex 
natione  aliorum  magister  Titus  ^  ex  natione  Scotorum, 

magister  David  Henrisom  ex  natione  Bassorum,  magister 
Cornelius  Hugo  qui  antiquo  receptori  in  redditione  rationum 
adessent.  Qua  reddita,  pecunia  recepta  excessit  expensam 
duodecim  libris  duodecim  solidis  parisiensibus  et  septem  denariis 
turonensibus.  Item  electus  est  in  Receptorem  proximi  anni 
Corneliis  (sic)  Ceratinus  et  magistro  Eoberto  Vauchop  defuncto 
receptori  de  dono  gratuito  supplicanti  natio  annuit. 

Item  magnas  distributiones  dari  jussit.  Item  bedellis  pro 
clavis  suis  quas  massas  vocant  et  regentibus  pro  scolis  sup- 
plicantibus  annuit  et  hec  ita  per  me  conclusa  sunt. 

Georgius  Buchananus. 

1  A  word  omitted  in  text. 


376 


APPENDIX. 


Eodem  die  apud  rectorem  conquestus  est  Magister  Francivscus 
Zampinus  regens  in  coll  agio  Lexoviensi  quosdam  a  se  discessisse 
ad  collegium  Plessiacum  quos  repetebat  iudicio. 

Audita  [querela]  utriusque  regentis  et  juvenum,  procuratores 
reformatores  et  deputati  nationum  censuerunt  juvenes  debere  ad 
prefatum  preceptorem  redire.  Et  ita  per  dominum  rectorem 
conclusum  est  magistro  Joanne  Arboreo  apud  quem  juvenes 
erudiebantur  Universitatem  appellante. 


Bacchalaureorum  anni  domini  1527  nomina  .  .  . 
Licentiatorum  nomina  .  .  . 

Dominorum  magistrorum  de  novo  incipientium  nomina  .  .  . 
Dns  Georgius  Buchanam,  dioc.  Glasguensis,  cuius  bursa  valet 
4  sol.  paris. 


Continuatio  Magistri  Claudii  Pollatii,  Helvetii  Lausanici 
diocesani  in  munere  procuratorio  1527.^ 

Anno  eodem,  1528. 
Nomen  unius  incipientis. 

Dominus  Georgius  Buchanam,  dioc.  Glasguensis,  cuius  bursa 
valet  4  sol.  paris.  .  .  .  ^ 

1  Fol.  141.  2  Fol.  143  verso.  ^  Fol.  144  verso. 


Georgius  Buchananus. 


NOTES. 


Isti  duo  post 
continuationem 
fuerunt  recepti, 
ut  patet  ill 
'•ontinuatione. 


APPENDIX  C. 


(Page  224.) 

[Orig.  Brit.  Mus.,  Lansdowne  MSS.,  Num.  15-24.] 

Letter  from  George  Buchanan  to  Sir  Thomas  Eandolph.^ 

To  his  singular  freynd  M.  Eandolph,  maister  of  postes  to  the 
queines  g.  of  Ingland.    In  London. 

I  resauit  twa  pair  of  lettres  of  you  sens  my  latter  wryting  to 
you.  wyth  the  fyrst  I  ressavit  Marianus  Scotus,  of  quhylk  I 
thank  you  greatly,  and  specialy  that  your  ingles  men  ar  fund 
liars  in  thair  cronicles  allegying  on  hym  sic  thyngs  as  he  never 
said.  I  haif  beyne  vexit  wyth  seiknes  al  the  tyme  sens,  and 
geif  I  had  decessit  ye  suld  haif  losit  both  thankis  and  recompens, 
now  I  most  neid  thank  you  hot  geif  wear  brekks  vp  of  thys 
foly  laitly  done  on  the  border,  than  I  wyl  hald  the  recom- 
pense as  Inglis  geir.  hot  gif  peace  followis  and  nother  ye 
die  seik  of  mariage  or  of  the  twa  symptomes  following  on 
mariage  quhylks  ar  jalozie  [and]  cuccaldry,  and  the  gut  cary  not 
me  away,  I  most  other  find  sum  way  to  pay  or  ceis  kyndnes  or 
ellis  geifing  vp  kyndnes  pay  you  w*  evil  wordis,  and  geif  thys  fasson 
of  dealing  pleasit  me  I  haif  reddy  occasion  to  be  angry  wyth  you 
that  haif  wissit  me  to  be  ane  kentys  man,  quylk  in  a  maner  is 
ane  centaur,  half  man,  half  beast,  and  yit  for  ane  certaine  con- 
sideration I  wyl  pas  over  that  iniury,  imputyng  it  erar  to  your 
new  foly  than  to  aid  wisdome,  for  geif  ye  had  beine  in  your  ryt 
wyt  ye  being  anis  escapit  the  tempesteous  stormes  and  naufrage 
of  mariage  had  never  enterit  agane  in  the  samyng  dangeris.  for 
I  can  not  tak  you  for  ane  Stoik  philosopher,  having  ane  head 
inexpugnable  w*^  the  frenetyk  tormetis  of  Jalozie,  or  ane  cairless 
[inargin,  skeptik]  hart  that  taks  cuccaldris  as  thyng  indifferent. 
In  this  caise  I  most  neidis  praefer  the  rude  Scottis  wyt  of  capi- 

^  This  letter  was  first  printed  by  Dr.  M'Crie  in  the  Appendix  to  his 
Life  of  Andrew  Melville, 


378 


APPENDIX. 


taine  Cocburne  to  your  inglis  solomonical  sapience,  quhylk 
wery  of  ane  wyfe  deliuerit  her  to  the  queyne  againe,  but 
you  deliverit  of  ane  wyfe  castis  your  self  in  the  samyn 
nette,  et  ferre  potes  dominam  saluis  tot  restibus  ullam.  and  so 
capitaine  cocburne  is  in  better  case  than  you  for  his  seiknes  is 
in  the  feitte  and  youris  in  the  heid.  I  pray  you  geif  I  be  out 
of  purpose  thynk  not  that  I  suld  be  maryit.  bot  rather  consider 
your  awyn  dangerous  estait  of  the  quhylk  the  spoking  has  thus 
troublit  my  braine  and  put  me  so  far  out  of  the  way.  As  to  my 
occupation  at  this  present  tyme,  I  am  besy  w*  our  story  of 
Scotland  to  purge  it  of  sum  Inglis  lyis  and  Scottis  vanite,  as  to 
maister  knoks  his  historic  is  in  hys  freindis  handis,  and  thai  ar  in 
cosultation  to  mitigat  sum  part  the  acerbite  of  certaine  wordis 
and  sum  taintis  quhair  in  he  has  followit  to  much  su  of  your 
inglis  writaris  as  M.  hal  et  siippilaforem  eius  Graftone  &c.  As  to 
M.  beza  I  fear  y*  eild  quhylk  has  put  me  from  verses  making 
sal  deliure  him  sone  a  Scabie  poetica,  quhylk  war  ane  great 
pitye  for  he  is  ane  of  the  most  singular  poetes  that  has  beine 
thys  lang  tyme.  as  to  your  great  prasyng  gevin  to  me  in  your 
If e  geif  ye  scorne  not  I  thank  you  of  luif  and  kyndnes  towart 
me  bot  I  am  sorie  of  your  corrupt  ingement.  heir  I  wald  say 
mony  iniuries  to  you  war  not  yat  my  gut  comandis  me  to  cesse 
and  I  wyl  als  spair  mater  to  my  nixt  writings.  Fairweall  and 
god  keip  you.    at  Sterling  the  Sext  of  august. 

Be  youris  at  al  power 

G.  Buchanan. 


APPENDIX  D. 


(Page  353.) 
Buchanan's  Testament  Dative,  i 


Maister 
George  Buchannane 
Vigesimo  Febr" 
1582 


The  Testament  Datiue,  &  Inuentar 
of  ye  gudis,  geir,  soumes  of  money,  & 
dettis,    perteining    to    vmquhile  ane 
rycht  venerabill  man,  Maister  George 
Buchannane,  preceptour  to  ye  kingis 
majestie  the  tyme  of  his  deceis,  quha 
deceist  vpoun  ye  xxix  day  of  Septem- 
ber,2  the  zeir  of  God  j^^v^lxxxii  zeris, 
faithfullie  maid  &  gevin  vp  be  Jonet 
Buchannane,   relict   of  vmquhile  Mr. 
Thomas  Buchannane  of  Ibert,  his  bruyer 
sone,  executrix  dative,  decernit  to  him 
be  decreit  of  ye  commissaris  of  Ed^  as 
ye  same  decreit  of  ye  dait  ye  xix  day  of 
December,  the  zeir  of  God  foirsaid,  at 
lenth  proportis. 
In  the  first,  ye  said  vmquhile  Maister  George  Buchannane, 
perceptour  to  ye  kingis  majestie,  had  na  uyer  gudis  nor  geir 
(except  ye  dett  vndirwrittin)  pertening  to  him  as  is  awin  pro- 
per dett  ye  tyme  of  his  deceis  foirsaid  :  viz.  Item,  yair  wes 
awand  to  ye  said  vmquhile  Mr.  George  be  Kobert  Gourlaw, 
custumar  burges  of  Ed^  for  ye  defunctis  pensioun  of  Corsraguell, 
restand  of  ye  Whitsonday  terme  in  anno  j^v^lxxxii  zeris,  the 
soume  of  ane  hundreth  pundis. 

Summa  of  ye  inuentar    .       .       .  1. 
No  diuisioun. 

Quhairof  ye  quot  is  gevin  gratis. 
^  From  the  Records  of  the  Commissary  Court. 

-  It  will  be  observed  that  the  date  of  Buchanan's  death  given  here 
differs  from  that  of  the  note  afl5xed  to  the  Latin  sketch  of  his  life.  With 
Irving,  I  have  followed  the  latter  date. 


380 


APPENDIX. 


We,  Maisteris  Eduard  Henrysoun,  Alex^  Sym,  &  Johne  Pres- 
toun,  commissaris  of  Ed*'  specialie  constitut  for  confirmatioun  of 
testamentis,  &c.,  vnderstanding  yat  efter  dew  summonding  & 
lauchfull  warning  maid  be  forme  of  editt  oppenlie,  as  efferis,  of 
ye  executouris  intromettouris  with  ye  gudis  &  geir  of  vmquhile 
Mr.  George  Buchannane,  &  of  uyeris  hafand  entreis,  to  compeir 
judicialie  befoir  us  at  ane  certane  day  bypast,  to  heir  &  sie 
executouris  datiuis  decernit  to  be  gevin,  admittit,  &  confermit 
be  us  in  &  to  ye  gudis  &  geir  quhilk  justlie  pertenit  to  him  ye 
tyme  of  his  deceis,  or  ellis  to  schaw  ane  caus  quhy,  &c.  we 
decernit  yairintill  as  our  decreit  gevin  yairupoun  beris ;  con- 
forme  to  ye  quhilk  we  in  our  soverane  lordis  name  &  autoritie 
makis,  constitutis,  ordanis,  &  confermes  ye  said  Jonet  Buchan- 
nane in  executorie  datiue  to  ye  said  Mr.  George,  with  power  to 
hir  to  intromet,  vptak,  follow  &  perseu,  as  law  will,  ye  dett  & 
soume  of  money  abone  specifeit,  &  yairwith  outred  dettis  to 
creditouris,  and  generalie  all  &  sindrie  vyer  thingis  to  do, 
exerce,  &  vse  yat  to  ye  office  of  executorie  datiue  is  knawin  to 
pertene ;  prouiding  yat  ye  said  Jonet,  executrix  foirsaid,  sail 
ansuer  &  render  compt  vpoun  hir  intromissioun  quhan  and 
quhair  ye  samin  salbe  requirit  of  hir,  &  yat  ye  said  dett  & 
soume  salbe  be  furthcumand  to  all  parteis  haifand  entres,  as  law 
will;  quhairvpoun  scho  has  fundin  cautioun,  as  ane  act  maid 
yairvpoun  beris. 


INDEX. 


Aberdeen,  University  of,  12. 
Addison,  Joseph,  165  w. 
Admonitioun  to  the  trew  Lordis,  217, 

218,  219,  223. 
Albany,  the  Eegent,  34,  35. 
Alcestis,  translated  by  Buchanan, 

121,  155. 
Alexandre  de  Villedieu,  57,  64,  65. 
Amyot,  Jacques,  127. 
Anabaptists,  277,  278. 
Anderson's  Collections,  209  n.,  210  7i. 
Anjou,  the  Duke  of,  332,  333. 
Anselan  Buey,  legendary  ancestor 

of  the  Clan  Buchanan,  5,  8. 
Anselan,  chamberlain  to  Maldiiin, 

Earl  of  Lennox,  6. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  274. 
Aristotle,  18,  64. 
Arran,  the  Regent,  321,  322. 
Arts,  Faculty  of,  in  Paris,  28,  29, 

30,  31,  32,  130. 
Ascham,  Roger,  2,  217. 
Assembly,  General,  190,  207,  208. 
Augustine,  St.,  307,  308. 

Bachelorship  of  Arts,  31. 
Bacon,  Lord,  203. 
Bannatyne  Miscellany,  71  n. 
Bannatyne's    Memorials,    221  n., 
277  n. 

Baudrillart,   Bodin  et  son  Temps, 

276,  278,  298,  300. 
Bauge,  Battle  of,  6. 
Baptistes,  a   drama  of  Buchanan, 

121-125,  197. 
Beaton,  Cardinal,  83,  104,  109,  122, 

125,  228,  321,  322. 
Beaton,  Mary,  183. 
Beda,  Noel,  39,  67,  69,  75  n. 
Bede,  309. 

Bellay,  Jean  du.  Bishop  of  Paris,  71. 
Bellenden,  John,  translator  of  Boece, 
306. 

Bellesheim,  Canon,  92,  97  n. 


Berquin,  Louis  de,  23,  68,  122,  123. 
Beza,  22,  136,  137,  139,  244,  262, 

335,  341,  342. 
Blane,  the  river,  4,  14,  104. 
Bodin,  Jean,  276,  285  n.,  287  w.,  290, 

298,  299,  300,  309,  318. 
Boece,  Hector,  19  n.,  87  n.,  174  n., 

186,  280,  281,  282,  299,  304,  305, 

307,  308,  310. 
Boetie,  Etienne  de  la,  280. 
Boncourt  College,  155. 
Book  of  Articles,  208,  209,  210. 
Book  of  Discipline,  226,  232  w,  235 

237,  240,  242. 
Book  of  Pluscarden,  7,  315. 
Bordeaux,  104,  105,  107,  108,  109, 

110,  113,  123,  125,  126,  128,  238. 
Boswell,  James,  2. 
Bothwell,  Earl  of,  8,  205. 
Bourbon,  Pere,  146. 
Brah^,  Tycho,  166,  337,  338. 
Brantome,  158. 

Brewer,  Professor,  36  w.,  320??. 

Briconnet,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  67,  68. 

Brissac,  the  Mar^chal  de,  34,  113, 
151,  155-159,  166,  170,  180. 

 Comte  de,  pupil  of  Buchanan, 

113,  158,  159. 

Brougham,  Lord,  10. 

Bruce,  Robert,  Buchanan's  character 
of,  312,  313. 

Buchanan  of  Auchmar,  6  ??.,  *7  n.,  8  n. 

 Sir  Alexander,  6. 

 George,  his  fame  on  the  Con- 
tinent, 1  ;  in  England,  2  ;  in  Scot- 
land, 3,  4  ;  birth,  ancestrj?^,  and 
parentage,  4-10  ;  early  education, 

12  ;  is  sent  to  Paris  University, 

13  ;  his  studies  there,  31 ;  returns 
to  Scotland,  33 ;  engages  in  a 
military  expedition  to  the  Borders, 
35,  36  ;  at  St.  Andrews  Univer- 
sity, 38  ;  Bachelor  of  Arts,  46  ; 
returns  to  Paris,  47  ;  at  the  Scots 


382 


INDEX. 


College,  48  ;  Master  of  Arts,  50  ; 
regent  in  Ste.  Barbe,  56  ;  poem 
describing  his  life  as  regent,  56  ; 
probably  acquainted  with  Calvin, 
61  ;  publishes  a  translation  of 
Linacre's  Latin  Grammar,  65  ;  his 
epigram  on  John  Major,  71  ;  his 
religious  opinions,  74 ;  his  satire 
on  the  Sorbonne,  75  ;  elected 
procurator  of  the  German  nation, 
76  ;  extract  from  his  entries  as 
procurator,  78,  79;  tutor  to  the 
Earl  of  Cassillis,  81  ;  returns  to 
Scotland,  85  ;  his  JSonmium,  a 
satire  against  the  Franciscans,  89, 

90  ;  tutor  to  Lord  James  Stewart, 

91  ;  his  Palinodia,  93  ;  Francis- 
canus,  95,  96  ;  flees  to  England, 
101  ;  in  Paris,  103  ;  regent  in 
Bordeaux,  104  ;  Montaigne  one  of 
his  pupils.  111  ;  Julius  Caesar 
Scaliger  one  of  his  friends.  113, 
114;  poem  to  Charles  v„  117  ; 
satire  on  the  Brothers  of  St. 
Anthony,  118;  his  Apologia  pro 
Lena,  119  ;  translations  of  Medea 
and  Alcestis,  121  ;  his  Jephthes, 
ib.  ;  his  Baptistes,  121-125;  leaves 
Bordeaux,  125 ;  regent  in  the 
College  du  Cardinal  Lemoine,  127 ; 
poem  to  his  friends  in  Bordeaux, 
127-129  ;  at  Coimbra,  Portugal, 
131  ;  persecuted  by  the  monks, 
133  ;  sails  for  England,  134 ; 
erotic  poems,  135-140 ;  para- 
phrase of  the  Psalms,  141-149  ; 
in  France,  150  ;  poem  on  the  cap- 
ture of  Metz,  153  ;  intimacy  with 
Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais,  153,  154  ; 
regent  in  the  College  Boncourt, 
155 ;  tutor  to  the  son  of  the 
Marechal  de  Brissac,  155-159  ; 
final  return  to  Scotland,  160  ; 
poem  on  the  Sjihere,  162-170; 
poem  on  the  capture  of  Calais, 
170,  171  ;  poem  on  the  marriage 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and 
the  Dauphin,  171-176  ;  Calendae 
Maiae,  177-179 ;  reads  with  Queen 
Mary,  180  ;  epigram  to  Mary, 
184 ;  Poet-Laureate  of  the  Scot- 
tish Court,  185  ;  his  poverty, 
186,  187;  pension  from  the 
Abbacy  of  Crossraguel,  188,  189  ; 
poems  to  Mary,  189,  190  ;  mem- 


ber of  General  Assembly,  190 ; 
poems  to  the  Regent  Moray,  191  ; 
poem  to  Darnley,  193,  194  ; 
writes  masque  on  the  baptism  of 
James  vi.,  195  ;  poem  on  the 
birth  of  James  vi.,  196-199  ;  his 
attitude  towards  Mary  after  the 
murder  of  Darnley,  200-216  ;  ac- 
companies Moray  and  the  other 
commissioners  to  England,  208  ; 
his  Detectio,  210-216  ;  in  London, 
216,  217  ;  his  Admonitioun  to  the 
trew  Lordis,  217,  219;  his 
Chamaeleon,  219-221  ;  his  ser- 
vices to  education  in  Scotland, 
226-248;  Principal  of  St.  Leon- 
ard's, 241,  242  ;  his  interest  in 
Glasgow  College,  242,  243  ;  letter 
to  Beza,  245  ;  poem  on  Alexander 
Cockburn,  247  ;  tutor  to  King 
James,  250-261  ;  his  bearing  to- 
wards James,  256  ;  his  political 
importance  as  the  King's  tutor, 
261,  263;  his  public  life,  263- 
268  ;  his  political  opinions,  269- 
292  ;  his  political  dialogue  De 
Jttre  Re(jni,  284-292  ;  his  History 
of  Scotland,  293-328  ;  his  corre- 
spondence, 329-348  ;  visited  by 
the  diarist  James  Melville,  349- 

351  ;  probably  approved  of  the 
Eaid  of  Buthven,  351  ;  his  death, 

352  ;  burial,  353  ;  his  character 
and  work,  354-360. 

 Gilbert,  6. 

 Maurice,  probable  author  of 

I     the  Pluscarden  Book,  6. 

 Patrick,  brother  of  George,  10, 

11,  132. 

 Robert,  grandfather  of  George, 

7. 

 Thomas,  first  of  the  Drumi- 

kill  family,  7. 

  Thomas,    father   of  George, 

10. 

 Thomas,  nephew   of  George, 

266. 

 Thomas,    cousin  of  George, 

349. 

Bude,  Guillaume,  17,  67,  68,  356. 
Burke,  Edmund,  218. 
Burgersdicius,  164,  167  n. 
Burgundy,  Duke  of,  pupil  of  F^ne- 
lon,  260,  261. 
]  Burns,  Robert,  80. 


rNDEX. 


383 


Burton,  Dr.  John  Hill,  3,  45  146, 
174  w.,  327,  328. 

Calais,  Buchanan's  poem  on  the 

capture  of,  170. 
Calderwood,thehistorian,325, 357  n. 
Calendae  Maiae,  poem  of  Buchanan, 

177-179. 

Calvin,  John,  18,  60,  61,  154,  234, 

263,  278,  279,  354,  355. 
Cambridge,  University  of,  27,  39, 

232. 

Camden,  2,  209  n.,  326,  351. 

Camerarius,  137,  138. 

Cardross,  8,  11,  34. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  3,  298. 

Carpentras,  school  of,  72. 

Casaubon,  Isaac,  69,  356. 

Casket  Letters,  206,  207. 

Cassillis,  Earl  of,  188,  189. 

 pupil  of  Buchanan,  66,  81-86, 

91,  320. 

Catiline,  199. 

Catullus,  136,  138. 

Cecil,  Sir  William,  minister  of  Eliza- 
beth, 113,  180,  216,  295. 

Chalmers,  George,  50  n.,  77,  266, 
267,  270  n.,  298  w.,  353  n. 

Chamaeleon,  The,  Buchanan's  satire 
on  Maitland  of  Lethington,  217, 
219-222. 

Charlemagne,  174. 

Charles  i.  (of  England),  125. 

Charles  v..  Emperor  of  Germany, 
117,  153,  277. 

Cheyne,  Dr.,  148  n. 

Chrestien,  Florent,  241  n. 

Christie,  R.  C,  177  n.,  212. 

Cicero,  73. 

Cockburn,  Alexander,  246,  247. 
Coimbra,  University  of,  130-133. 
Coleridge,  S.  T.,  223. 
Colet,  Dean,  74,  231,  354. 
College  Royal,  in  Paris,  17,  63. 
Coluraba,  St.,  307. 
Comines  de,  Philippe,  299. 
Copernicus,  163,  164,  169. 
Coqueret  College,  78,  79. 
Cowley,  Abraham,  2,  145,  146. 
Crevier,  Histoire  de  VUniversite  de 

Paris,  44,  54,  59,  64,  77,  129, 

130,  231. 
Crichton,  The  Admirable,  247. 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  101. 
Crossraguel  Abbey,  187-189,  202. 


Daniel,  Pierre,  letter  of  Buchanan 

to,  331. 
Dante,  138. 

Darnley,  185,  186,  189,  193,  194, 
196,  200,  204,  205,  209,  210,  285. 
David  I.  of  Scotland,  310,  311. 
Defoe,  218. 

Dejob,  Vie  de  Muret,  126  w.,  136  n. 
De  Jure  Regni,  124,  197,  198,  255; 

account  of,  268-292. 
Dennistouns,  a  noted  family  of  the 

Lennox,  6. 
Descartes,  64. 

De  Sphaera,  a  poem  of  Buchanan, 
159,  162-170. 

Detectio,  The,  201,  202  n.,  208-215. 

Diane  de  Poitiers,  151. 

Dickson,  Dr.  Thomas,  202  n. 

Dionysii,  The,  199. 

Divinity,  Doctorate  of,  29. 

Dolet,  Etienne,  212. 

Domitian,  199. 

Donald  Bane,  310. 

Douglas,  Gavin,  33. 

Drumikill,  Buchanans  of,  7. 

Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  236, 
237,  256  n. 

Dryden,  2,  284,  326,  327,  328. 

Dugast,  Robert,  52,  78,  79. 

Dumbarton,  11,  12,  27. 

Dunbar,  Gavin,  Archbishop  of  Glas- 
gow, 98. 

Dunbar,  William,  33,  90,  99,  186. 
Edward  i.,  311. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  102, 

140,  180,  211,  216,  266. 
Episcopacy,  268. 

Epithalamion  on  marriage  of  Mary 

Queen  of  Scots,  171-174. 
Erasmus,  11,  16,  19,  25  n.,  32,  39, 

43,  44,  55,  68,  69,  73,  74,  88, 

114,  187,  197,  212,227,276,356. 
Estienne,  Charles,  128. 
 Henri,  2,  143,  145,  159,  184, 

335. 

 Robert,  66,  145, 

Etaples,  Lefevre  d',  18,  67,  68. 

Fenelon,  Archbishop,  260,  261. 
Ferrerius,  Joannes,  134. 
Fisher,  Bishop,  71,  232. 
Flaminio,  Marcantonio,  142-145. 
Fleming,  Mary,  183. 
Flodden,  battle  of,  36,  88,  319. 


384  INDEX. 


Fontaine,  la,  165. 

Fonteine,  Lema§on  de  la,  corre- 
spondent of  Buchanan,  262. 

Fordun,  the  Scottish  historian,  305, 
308,  310. 

Fracastorius,  163. 

France,  Buchanan's  Address  to,  152. 

Francis  i.,  17,  22,  23,  51,  68,  69, 
103,  104,  132,  151,  277  w. 

Francis  ii.,  82,  171,  176. 

Franciscans,  The,  92,  93,  94,  95,  96, 
133. 

Franciscanus,  poem  of  Buchanan,  90, 
91  n.,  93,  94,  95,  96,  192,  203. 

Francogallia,  290. 

Fratres  Fraterrimi,  poems  of  Buchan- 
an, 74. 

Froude,  7,  113. 

Galiani,  Abbe,  99. 

Galileo,  25  n.,  165  n. 

Gardiner,  History  of  England,  253. 

Cf&uirks,,  Claude  Baduel  et  laReforme 

des  Etudes  au  xvi^  siede,  72  n., 

234. 

Gaullieur,  Ernest.     See  Guyenne, 

College  de. 
Gelida,  Joannes,  128. 
Geneva,  137,  152,  234. 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  309. 
German  "  Nation  "  at  University  of 

Paris,  24-27,  30,  31. 
Gerson,  Chancellor  of  University  of 

Paris,  274. 
Glasgow,  University  of,  12,  13,  25, 

41,  242,  243. 
Goethe,  138. 

Gouvea,  Andre  de,  105, 109, 110, 116, 
117,  119,  123,128,  130,  131,  132, 
182. 

 Antoine  de,  61. 

 Jacques  de,   52,  59,  60,  63, 

105. 

Graf,  Jacques  Lefevre  d'Etaples,  18, 
68. 

Grammars,  Latin,  65,  243. 
Gramraont,  Charles  de,  Archbishop 

of  Bordeaux,  122,  123,  125, 
Grant,  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland, 

12,  13. 
Gray,  the  poet,  177  n. 
Greek,  the  study  of,  13,  17,  63,  64. 
Gregory  of  Toiirs,  272. 
Grisy,  lands  of,  endowment  of  Scots 

College  in  Paris,  48. 


Groslot,  Jerome,  244,  245. 
Grotius,  2. 

Grouchy,  Nicolas,  111. 
Gu^rente,  GuiUaume,  111,  124. 
Guise,  Duke  of,  170. 
Guises,  The,  151. 

Guyenne,  College  de,  105,  106, 108, 
109,  110,  111,  112,  114,  116,  125 
n.,  132. 

Haddon,  Walter,  140. 
Hadrian,  wall  of,  309. 
Hallam,  120,  140,  146,  147,  163, 
165. 

Hamilton,  Archbishop,  229. 
 Patrick,  81. 

Hamiltons,  family  of  the,  8,  218, 
219. 

Hannay,  James,  291  w. 
Heine,  Heinrich,  80,  103. 
Henderson,  Casket  Letters,  207  w., 
213  n. 

Henrietta  Maria,  wife  of  Charles  i., 
125. 

Henry  ii.  of  France,  151,  154,  170. 

 IV.  of  France,  262. 

 VIII.,  35,  84,  102,  320. 

Henryson,  E-obert,  Scottish  poet,  74. 
Hepburn,  Prior,  227. 
Heriots  of  Trabroun,  9,  10. 
 Agnes,    mother    of  George 

Buchanan,  9,  10,  11. 
 George,  founder  of  Heriot's 

Hospital,  Edinburgh,  9,  10. 
 James,  uncle  of  George  Bucha- 
nan, 13,  33. 
Hessus,  Eobanus,  141,  145. 
Hopital,  de  1',  Chancellor  of  France, 

153,  172,  175,  176,  203,  205, 

206,  277,  278. 
Horace,  147,  177,  178. 
Hosack,    Mary   Stewart,    202  w., 

209  n. 
Hotman,  290,  291. 
Huguenots,  the,  275,  278. 
Humanism,  44,  45,  106,  118,  119, 

236,  271,  272. 
Humanists,  1,  16,  18,  19,  40,  65,  89. 
Hume,  David,  3,  328. 

Innes,  Cosmo,  13??,  182. 

 Father,  298  n. 

Inquisition,  the,  133. 
Irving,    Dr.    David,    Memdirs  of 
Buchanan,    5,    112,    146,  172, 


INDEX. 


385 


182,  237,  241,  244,  252,  270,  324, 
353. 

Isidore  of  Seville,  273. 
Italy,  scholars  of,  16. 

James  i.  of  Scotland,  288. 

 III.,  288,  289. 

 IV.,  317,  318,  319. 

  v.,  82,  88,  92,  93,  94  100, 

133  321. 

 VI.,  124,  195,  196,  197,  200  ; 

pupil  of  Buchanan,  250-261,  325, 

326,  337. 
Jesuits,  the,  132,  133. 
Jephthes,  a  drama  of  Buchanan,  34, 

121. 

John  TIL  of  Portugal,  130,  132,  133, 
134. 

John  Baliol,  311. 

 of  Salisbury,  273. 

Johnson,  Dr.,  2,  3. 

Johnston,  Arthur,  147,  148,  149. 

Jonas,  Justus,  141. 

Jonson,  Ben,  256  n. 

Jourdain,  Excursions  Historiques  et 
Philosophiques  a  travers  le  Moyen- 
Age,  24,  31,  42,  53,  77,  126, 
273. 

Kennedy,  Bishop,  42,  316,  317. 

Killearn,  birthplace  of  Buchanan,  4, 
8,  11,  12,  14. 

Killigrew,  English  resident  in  Scot- 
land, 257,  258. 

Kirk  of  Field,  194. 

Knox,  John,  3,  8,  44,  63,  81,  87,  90, 
99,  141  n.,  154,  181,  190, 191, 193, 
195,  223,  234,  246,  253,  265  w., 
267,  277  n.,  281,  282,  283,  292, 
296,  307,  316,  317,  323,  335,  354, 
.355,  357. 

Laing,  David,  92w.,  186  n.,  247  n., 

323  w,  353  n,  354:  n. 

 Malcolm,  213,  214. 

Languet,  Hubert,  270,  342,  343,344. 
Latinists  of  the  sixteenth  century, 

26,  70,  146,  193. 
Lee,  Principal,  41,  241  w. 
Leighton,  Archbishop,  74. 
Lemoine,  College  du  Cardinal,  126, 

127. 

Lennox,  the  Eegent,  263,  264,  317, 

320,  324,  334. 
 the  clan  of,  193. 

2 


Lennox,  country  of  the,  104. 
Lenormant,  Geoffroi,  founder  of  Ste. 

Barbe,  50. 
Leonora,  Buchanan's  poems  to,  135, 

139,  140. 
Lesley,  Bishop,  296. 
Linacre,  his  Latin  Grammar,  65,  66, 

81. 

Lisbon,  130,  134. 
Livy,  180,  183. 
Lloyd,  Humphrey,  304. 
Logic,  Gavin,  227. 
Louis  XI.,  220  n. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  60,  62,  63,  87. 
Luther,  19,  20,  43,  61,  68,  87,  141, 

142,  228,  277,  278. 
Lutheranism,  20,  100,  277. 
Lutherans,  23,  61,  74. 
Lyndsay,  Sir  David,  33,  87,  92,  96, 

99,  318,  319. 
Lyon,  Historij  of  St.  Andrews,  41, 

42,  227,  22*8,  229. 


Macalpine,  Kenneth,  308. 
Macauslans,  the,  8. 
Machiavelli,  276,  277,  299. 
Mackenzie,  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers, 

48,  259,  352. 
Macmillans,  the,  8. 
M'Crie,  Dr.,  240,  242,  251,  281. 
Macrinus,  Salmonius,  145. 
Maitland,  Thomas,  younger  brother 

of  Secretary  Maitland,  284-291. 
  of  Lethington,  219,  220,  221, 

237. 
Maittaire,  145. 

Major,  John,  his  Latin  style,  17  ; 
an  inmate  of  Ste.  Barbe,  19; 
quoted  25  n.  ;  sketch  of  his  life 
and  opinions,  38-41,  42  ;  his  ill- 
repute  with  the  humanists,  43, 
44 ;  Knox  and  Buchanan  his 
pupils,  44,  45  n.  ;  Buchanan's  dis- 
like to  his  teaching,  46  ;  re- 
turns to  Paris  in  1525,  47  ;  B.'s 
possible  obligation  to  him,  48  ; 
Buchanan's  epigram  on  him,  70, 
71  ;  his  opinion  on  the  ignorance 
of  the  clergy,  87  n.  ;  230,  274, 
280,  281,  303,  305,  310,  311,  317. 

Malcolm  Canmore,  309,  310. 

Malduin,  Earl  of  Lennox,  6. 

Mar,  the  Regent,  258,  264,  265, 
317,  324,  334. 

B 


386 


INDEX. 


Mar,  the  young  Earl  of,  pupil  of 
Buchanan,  258,  259. 

 Lady,  256,  258,  259. 

Marche,  La,  College  of,  60. 

Margaret  of  Navarre,  sister  of 
Francis  i.,  23,  68,  69,  100. 

  of  Valois,  sister  of  Henry  ii., 

155. 

Mariana,  291  w. 

Marianus  Scotus,  309. 

Marot,  Clement,  154. 

Marsilius  of  Padua,  274. 

Martin,  Histoire  de  France,  151, 
152,  280. 

Mary  of  England,  171. 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  3,  82  ;  her 
marriage  with  the  Dauphin,  171  ; 
175,  176  ;  reads  Livy  with  Bu- 
chanan, 180,  181,183;  Buchan- 
an's epigram  to  her,  184  ;  her 
gift  to  Buchanan,  187,  188,  189, 
193-196  ;  Buchanan's  relations  to 
her  after  the  murder  of  Darnley, 
200-216,  242,  243,  279,  283,  285. 

Mary  of  Lorraine,  321. 

Masques,  Latin,  of  Buchanan,  185. 

Masson,  Professor,  125,  146,  274. 

Medea,  the,  translated  into  Latin 
by  Buchanan,  121,  155. 

Medievalism,  230,  232. 

Melanchthon,  43,  109,  138,  141, 
142,  212,  232,  318. 

Melville,  Andrew,  227,  230,  236, 
239,  240,  242,  267,  292,  349,  350, 
357. 

 Sir  James,  181,  182,  256,  257, 

265. 

  James,  230,  239,  240,  257, 

258,  349,  350. 
Melvin  of  Aberdeen,  146,  227. 
Menteith,  district  of,  8,  11,  14,  34. 
Metz,  Buchanan's  poem  on  the  cap- 
ture of,  151,  153. 
Middle  Ages,  the,  15,  17,  21,  28, 

44,  45,  51,  138,  230,  273,  282. 
Milton,  2,  121,  125,  141,  165,  177, 

212,218,  270,  275,  284,  291,  303. 
Mitchell  Wylie,  name  applied  to 

Maitland  of  Lethington,  277. 
Moderatism,  Scottish,  237. 
Montaigne,  55,  56,  105,  111,  112, 

113,  124,  125,  280. 
Montaigu  College,  19,  39,  43,  48, 

58,  62,  70. 
Montesquieu,  300. 


Montmorency,  Constable,  151,  279. 
Monstrelet,  the  French  historian, 
315. 

Moray,  Bishop  of,  founder  of  Scots 

College  in  Paris,  48. 
 the  Regent,  91,  94,  191,  192, 

193,   203-209,   227,   237,  247, 

250,  263,  284,  296,  317. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  74,  212  n.,  276, 

278. 
Moreri,  126  n. 
Mornay,  Duplessis,  262. 
Morton,  the  Regent,  206,  207,  243, 

263,  265,  266,  267,  316,  324. 
Moss,  or  Mid-Leowen,  lands  of,  birth- 
place of  Buchanan,  4,  10. 
Mullinger,  History  of  the  University 

of  Camhridge,l5,  27,  29,  232, 235. 
Muret,  Marc-Antoine,  111,  124,  126, 

135  w.,  136  w.,  182. 
Mysteries,  medieval,  120. 

"  Nation,"  English,  at  University 

of  Paris,  76,  77. 
  German,    at    University  of 

Paris,  24,  25,  26,  30,  31,  76,  77, 

78,  79. 

"  Nations,"  origin  of,  76,  77. 
Navarre,  College  of,  21  n.,  50,  105. 
Neaera,  Buchanan's  verses  to,  139, 

140. 
Nero,  199,  288. 

Netherlands,  education  in  the,  12. 
Nicolson,  Bishop,  282,  304. 

Ormiston,  247. 
Ovid,  138. 

Oxford,  University  of,  16,  231,  232. 

Paedagogia,  30. 

Paedagogium  of  St.  Andrews,  41,  42. 

Paris,  University  of,  13,  15,  16,  17, 
19-30,  41,  46,  47,  49,  52,  56,  58, 
63,  64,  102,  104,  129,  130,  174w. 

Paris,  Parliament  of,  22,  68,  152. 

Pascal,  165. 

Patin,  Guy,  146. 

Pattison,  Mark,  12,  32,  111,  253, 
354. 

Paul,  St.,  his  political  teaching,  288. 
Peasants'  War,  277. 
Petrarch,  138. 
Pindar,  145. 

Pinkerton,  History  of  Scotland,  104, 
298,  320. 


INDEX. 


387 


Plays,  Latin,  120. 
Plutarch,  157. 
Person,  3,  45  n. 

Portugal,  126,  130,  131,  141,  150, 

152,  153. 
Portuguese  in  Ste.  Barbe,  51,  52. 
Pot,  Philippe,  275. 
Presbytery,  268. 
Psalms,  versions  of  the,  141-144. 
Psalms,  Buchanan's  version  of  the, 

4,  135,  144-149. 
Ptolemy,  his  astronomical  system, 

168. 

Pythagoras,  165,  167. 

QuiCHERAT,  Histoire  de  Sainte- 
Barhe,  19,  20,  40,  50,  60,  61,  62, 
65,  70,  78,  109,  110,  132. 

Eabelais,  4,  43,  44w.,55,  76  w.,  119. 
Rainsford,  Sir  John,  101. 
Randolph,  Sir  Thomas,  101,  180, 

184,  224,  254,  294,  295,  297. 
Ranke,  68,  278. 

Rapicius,  his  version  of  the  Psalms, 
145. 

Rebitt^,  Guillaume  Bude,  69,  74. 
Reformers,  the  Scottish,  232,  238. 
Renaissance,  the,  4,  45,  135,  138, 

152,  232,  236. 
Richard  of  Bury,  15. 
Rizzio,  David,  186,  350  w. 
Robert  ill.,  314. 

Robertson,  Joseph,  185,  186,  194, 
195. 

Robertson,  William,  the  historian, 
328. 

Rodriguez,  Simon,  132. 
Rogers,  Daniel,  332,  333,  334. 
Rome,  Church  of,  96,  97,  272. 

 ,  in  Scotland,  86-89. 

Ronsard,  182. 

Ruddiman,  83  n.,  159,  184,  214, 270, 

293,  330. 
Rutherfurd,  Samuel,  291,  292. 
Ruthven,  Raid  of,  351. 

Sacrobosco,  Joannes  de,  164,  166, 

167,  169. 
Sadoleto,  Cardinal,  71,  72. 
St.  Andrews,  University  of,  12,  25, 

41,  42,  48,  183,  193,  230,  231, 

233,  237,  239,  241,  242. 
Sainte-Barbe,  College  of,  19,  20,  39, 


50,  51,  52,  53,  54,  56,  59,  62,  63, 
64,  65,  66,  79,  81,  127. 

Sainte-Beuve,  154,  205. 

Saint-Gelais,  Mellin  de,  153-155. 

St.  Leonard,  College  of,  St.  An- 
drews, 193,  196,  227,  228,  229. 

St.  Mary,  College  of,  St.  Andrews, 
229,  230,  241. 

St.  Salvator,  College  of,  St.  An- 
drews, 229,  240,  241,  247. 

Saumaise  (Salmasius),  2,  177. 

Scaliger,  Joseph,  69,  114  n.,  115, 
187,  356. 

 Julius  Caesar,  113,  114. 

Schmidt,  Jean,  45,  234,  243. 

Scholasticism,  16,  44,  45. 

Scotland,  Buchanan's  History  of, 
29.3-328. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  3,  86,  182,  327. 

Scotus,  Duns,  274. 

Scrimgeour,  Henry,  letter  of  Bu- 
chanan to,  334,  335. 

Seebohm,  Oxford  Reformers,  231. 

Scots  College  in  Paris,  24,  25,  26, 
47,  49,  50  w.,  60. 

Seneca,  275. 

Servius  Tullius,  199. 

Severus,  wall  of,  309. 

Sheriffhall,  near  Dalkeith,  one  of 
the  residences  of  Buchanan,  349. 

Sibbald,  Commentaries  on  the  Life  of 
Buchanan,  193,  217. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  2,  342. 

Sigongues,  Monsieur  de,  letter  of 
Buchanan  to,  336,  337. 

Skene,  F.  J.  H.,  6  n. 

 W.  F.,  7  n.,  8  w.,  9  71.,  297  n. 

Smith,  Adam,  3. 

Somnium,  a  poem  of  Buchanan,  89, 
90,  93. 

Sorbonne,  College  of  the,  21,  22,  68, 

75,  107,  152,  155. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  102. 
Standonck,  Jean,  Principal  of  Mon- 

taigu  College,  19,  39,  40  n. 
Steven,  Dr.  W.,  History  of  George 

Heriot's  Hospital,  9  n.,  10  n. 
Stewart,  Archbishop,  natural  son  of 

James  iv.,  42,  227. 
 Lord  James,  pupil  of  Buchanan, 

85,  91. 

Strasburg,  Sturm's  School  at,  106, 
226. 

Sturm,  Jean,  106,  116,  226,  227, 
252,  291,  354. 


388 


INDEX. 


Swift,  Dean,  80. 
Symonds,  J.  A.,  142  n. 

Talleyrand,  220. 

Teyve,  Jacques  de,  127,  131. 

Thou,  de,  104,  113,  182,  328,  346. 

Thuanus.    See  De  Thou. 

Thurot,  De  VOi-ganisation  de  VEn- 
seignement  dans  VUniversite  de 
Paris  au  Moyen-Age,  21,  25,  26, 
28,  29,  30,  31,  32,  38,  49,  55. 

Tibullus,  136. 

Trabroun,  9. 

Turnebe,  Adrien,  126,  182,  356  n. 
Tytler,  History  of  Scotland,  36,  84, 
92,  208,  283      316     320  w., 322. 

Udall,  Nicolas,  120. 
Universities,   Medieval,  230,  233, 
235. 

Usher,  Archbishop,  326. 

Valee,  Briand  de,  119. 
Vaus,  John,  the  Aberdeen  Gram- 
marian, 26. 
Verse,  Latin,  31,  32,  136. 


Vida,  his  poems  on  the  Game  of 
Chess  and  on  Silk-worms,  163. 

Vinet,  Elie,  105,  131,  164,  170, 
345-348. 

Virgil,  4,  57,  146,  147. 

Volusenus,  Florentius.  See  Wilson, 
Florence. 

Wardlaw,  Bishop,  of  St.  Andrews, 
41. 

Wark  Castle,  36. 
Warton,  Joseph,  141. 
Warton,  Thomas,  2. 
Wauchope,  Robert,  77,  79. 
Wallace,  William,  Buchanan's  cha- 
racter of,  312. 
William  in.,  14. 
William  the  Lion,  311. 
Wilson,  Florence,  43,  70,  71-74. 
Wittenberg,  232. 
Wodrow,  268,  352. 
Wolmar,  Melchior,  137. 
Wordsworth,  177,  178. 

Young,  Sir  Peter,  252,  256,  258, 
263,  338. 


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